A friend gave me this bottle of wine to have a try. I am not familiar with this estate but Hugh Johnson had rated this as a 3 star winery (well known, highly reputed) so it must be one of those well kept secrets that I had not yet had the opportunity to try. This wine is made with fruit from the Jungenberg vineyard (in Jois at the tip of Neusiedlersee), a Merlot/Cabernet Franc blend aged in 100% new Bordeaux barriques. My expectation would be an Austrian take on Right Bank Bordeaux.
Hand picked and sorted, the fruit underwent cold maceration (max 10degC) for 10-12 days before fermentation in open wooden fermenters (max 30degC) with twice daily pigeage, and 18 months barrique aginb before bottling without filtration. The wine was a deep purple ruby with a sweet currant scent that is immediately obvious on pouring (rather like pour out Ribena in glasses before diluting it). The nose also contains a slight leafy greeness with tannins, which did not carry through to the palate. The palate was sweet and fruity with a touch of wood, but marred by some alcoholic heat. There was support by an acid backbone, but again the hot alcoholic feeling rather dominated it giving a hot finish.
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