Saudade

Harvest & vinification

Saudade is a Portuguese word that is difficult to translate. It is a frame of mind that involves yearning, melancholy, homesickness & wanderlust. It is acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful words in the world. The wine, for which this name was chosen, is a tribute to Portugal and to its most famous wines: the Ports.

In the extremely hot and dry summer of 2017, we harvested highly ripe and carefully selected Blaufränkisch grapes by hand. For about five days, the must macerated intensely but gently, trodden by foot. Then natural fermentation (we do not use cultured yeast, but autochthonous yeasts exclusively) started. We observed the development of the fermentation, and when the residual sugar content arrived at the desired degree of sweetness, we pressed the grapes gently in a small wooden basket press. The wine flowing out was immediately blended with brandy, which the top Austrian distiller Hans Reisetbauer had made from our own white wine. This addition of brandy prevents the yeasts from  fermenting the remaining sugar in the wine any further. The wine remains sweet, while at the same time the alcohol rises to about 20%.

The current edition (bottled 2021) is harvested exclusively in the great year 2017.