2020 Ried Spitzerberg-OBERE SPITZER 1ÖTW

Site & soil

The sub-vineyard Obere Spitzer includes nearly seven hectares of vines and is situated at the extreme western part of the slope. It stretches from about 210 meters altitude up to the border of the natural reserve covered with bushes and mediterranean oak trees. It is one of the steepest parts of the slope and extremly sandy and try.

We cultivate four Blaufränkisch vineyards on the Obere Spitzer with a total surface of one hectar. The oldest vineyards dates back to 1955, the youngest was planted in 2003. For this wine, we only use the grapes from the oldest vine, which produce a ridiculously small yield. But the expression of these grapes is so unique that we just cannot mix them with them with others. That is the reason why there are only 500 bottles of this wine, and it is certainly the most elegant and the finest that we have ever produced.

Harvest & vinification

The grapes are harvested by hand, and any overripe or unperfect berry is removed by hand. Especially with old vines this is a lot of work, but it is essential in order to get this precise, crystalclear expression and this silky structure.

We ferment the grapes in an open vats and push down softly by hand. The spontaneous fermentation proceeds very slowly and at room temperature; the must is neither heated nor cooled. This guarantees wines that are very precise & generously aromatic. After about twenty days, the wine is pressed and then matured in 600-litre wooden casks. No new wood is utilised, in order to avoid masking the expressive fruit of the Blaufränkisch. After two years in oak, the wine is bottled without filtration and matures for another year in the bottle before it is released.

Vintage 2020

The end of spring was warm and rather dry. The usual heavy rains appeared only in June. The summerweeks were a bit cooler than the years before, which was very positiv for the nature and the vines. From mid of August the nights become quite cool, and this slowed down the maturation so that we could harvest from the third september week until the first october days in a quite relaxed modus.

The wines from 2020 are probably finer and more delicate than the three previous years. They show beautiful precise aromatics, a cool fruit, silky tannins and a complex elegant lenght.