Red Melee – 2018

Rotes Handgemenge – Red Wine from Wachter-Wiesler

The Wachter-Wiesler wine Rotes Handgemenge 2018 is a country wine from Austria. This bone-dry, fully fermented red wine made from Zweigelt and Blaufränkisch, Austria's two red grape varieties, is a prime example of a red wine for day-to-night drinking that perfectly conveys the dark, spicy terroir of the region, even though it is assembled from several varieties year after year.

Manual labor in the vineyard, hand harvesting, "Handgemenge" (brawl) – this red wine represents the fun-loving, no-nonsense style of the wine and the sometimes rather rough drinking habits of the people of Southern Burgenland, which can seem unruly to outsiders.

On the nose, it exudes a complex fruitiness of dark red and black berries, such as wild berries, blackberries, and blackcurrants, ripe black cherries, and tart blueberries, which meets a piquant herbal spice; some forest floor and leather are also present. On the palate, it is juicy, with noticeable tannins and lively acidity.

Wachter Wiesler – Winemaking

The Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt grapes, hand-picked from mid-September to mid-October 2018, come 70% from iron-rich clay soils in Deutsch-Schützen and 30% from iron-rich greenschist in Eisenberg. Christoph Wachter manages the vineyards of Weingut Wachter-Wiesler organically-biologically, with a lot of manual labor and care. After harvesting, the grapes remain in wooden fermentation vats for 7-12 days at a maximum of 28°C, and are then gently pressed and spontaneously fermented with malolactic fermentation in tanks. Matured for one year in traditional, large wooden barrels (500-3000l). Unfined and unfiltered, bottled in spring 2020.

Rotes Handgemenge – a wine and its characteristics

• Origin Wine from Austria
• Growing region Burgenland
• Grape varieties Blaufränkisch, Zweigelt
• 12.0% Vol. Alcohol
• 6.4 g/l Acidity
• 1.0 g/l Residual sugar