2017 Syrah

Site & soil

The grapes for this Syrah grow on the Spitzerberg – more precisely, in the vineyards Ried Roterd & Ried Spitzer, both on the southern slope of the hillside. It is a pure, very dry limestone soil, which retains hardly any of the meagre rainfall. The Syrah, which develops its aroma and varietal typicity late in the autumn, enjoys the dry summer and the long autumn on the Spitzerberg. It shows its best sides when it is harvested earliest at the beginning of October – so, only after the last of the  Blaufränkisch. Thanks to the poor limestone soil, Syrah always maintains a precise, clear structure here, and never becomes too corpulent or baroque of character, even in very hot years. Monovarietal Syrah does not meet the specifications for Carnuntum^DAC (2/3 Zweigelt and/or Blaufränkisch), and therefore states its designation of origin on the label as Niederösterreich.

Harvest & vinification

The clusters are harvested by hand and any overripe berry is manually removed. In the cellar, the grapes are lightly crushed and macerated partly with the stems in open fermentation vats. This extraction is very gentle and occurs completely without pumping, and fermentation begins after a few days thanks to the wild yeasts. The spontaneous fermentation proceeds very slowly and at room temperature; the must is neither heated nor cooled. This guarantees wines that are very precise & aromatic. After approximately twenty days, the wine is pressed and then matured in large old wooden casks for about twenty months. During this time, the wine is racked only one time, and ultimately bottled without filtration.

Vintage 2017

2017 was an extremely hot and dry summer, which in many places produced massive & alcohol-laden wines. The art & artisanry in this vintage was to preserve the freshness of the grapes. This was achieved by very selective harvesting and the meticulous sorting-out of overripe berries. The 2017 Syrah is a wine that shows particularly great potential.