2021 Ried Spitzerberg-Obere Roterd 1ÖTW

Site & soil

The Obere Roterd is a sub-vineyard on the Spitzerberg with a total surface of three hectares. It is situated on the western part of the slope, and stretches like a tiny strip on an altitude between 210 and 240 meters, bordering the bushes of the natural reserve.

The soil is sandy, very dry limestone, including also bigger and smaller pieces of limestones.

The wines of Obere Roterd are – like nearly all wines from Spitzerberg – marked by elegant freshness and a very dense structure. Typical and unique for this sub-vineyard is a creamy, silky texture, which deliver it special character of charme to the wines.

We cultivate five vineyard parcels of Blaufränkisch on the Obere Roterd with a total surface of 1,3 hectares (and another 0,5 hecatres of Syrah). The vines were planted between 1965 and 2004, which guarantees a wonderful vertical complexity to the wine.

For this wine, though, we only use two plots of old vines, that are organic cultivated already for several years and show a quite distinctive elegance and creaminess.

The output, unfortunately, is only 800 bottles, but they are marked by finesse to perfection.

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, crystal clear 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 used, 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 2021

2021 definitly is an outstanding year. Probably the best vintage that has ever been harvested on the Spitzerberg.

The spring was very dry for a long time, and quite cold, which led to a very late start of the vegetation. How lucky we were! While large parts of Europe had enormous damage by the late frost, our vines were still asleep and therefore were not touched by the cold temperatures. The summer brought small rainfalls now and then and was rather cool, which helped the vines to mature the grapes in a balanced and slow way. In the autum, the weather changed and we had a long, sunny and dry period, which brought us mature fruits with intensive character.

And wonderful complex vintage, a bit more powerful than the previous year. Great potential.