2021 Ried Spitzerberg 1ÖTW “Liebkind”

Site & soil

At 300 metres above sea level, Ried Kobeln is the highest-elevation vineyard on the Spitzerberg. Here, the layer of topsoil is very thin and exposure to the wind exceptionally open, resulting in extremely low yields. In 2008, a parcel of ​​1.1 hectares was planted, which yields on average about 1500–2000 kg of grapes. These particular Blaufränkisch berries are quite small, with an average diameter of 8mm, and therefore bring a lot of tannin and aromatic material into the highly concentrated wine. This makes Liebkind a wine that needs even more time to mature. Experience has shown that its elegance & finesse reveal themselves fully only after about five to six years of cellaring.

Harvest & vinification

In order to avoid marmalade flavours, it is very important in this extremely dry vineyard to not wait a single day too long to pick the grapes – they are harvested by hand, and every overripe berry is carefully removed. In the cellar, the grapes are partly lightly crushed and or footstomped with the stems, both parts are fermented with wild lees in open fermentation vats.  The spontaneous fermentation proceeds very slowly and at room temperature; the must is neither heated nor cooled. In this way, the distinctive expression of Ried Kobeln is retained without any signs of extreme heat finding their way into in the wine. After about twenty days, the wine is pressed and then matured in a large, old wooden cask. During the twenty months spent maturing, the wine is racked only one time, and ultimately bottled without filtration. AFter that, the wines matures for another year in the bottle before being released.

Vintage 2021

2021 is an exceptional vintage. Probably the best that was ever harvested on Spitzerberg.

Spring was long and dry, and mostly quite cool so that bud break was very late. How lucky we were! While late frosts produced a lot of damage all over Europe, our buds were still sleeping and therefore not touched by the cold temperatures. Summer showed some smaller rainfalls now and then, and some cooler weeks as well. This led to a very balanced, regular maturation without any stress. In autumn, the weather changed and we had long sunny and dry weeks which brought wonderfully mature, very aromatic intense grapes.

2021 is a wonderful, full bodied vintage, very dense yet fresh and with a lot of tension. Great potential.