Gernot & Heike Heinrich, Burgenland


Alter Berg Blaufränkisch Leithaberg DAC, 2015

13.5%

750 ml

Varietal: Blaufränkisch

Tasting Notes:

Clothed in a purple cloak that shimmers between violet and an opaque core, this Blaufränkisch exudes aromatic purism. Pure, brilliant black cherry is reflected in all its forms from the skin to the fruit flesh and juice to the seed. This finds subtle support in discreet toasty aromas and robust earthiness. Precisely focused and meticulously delineated on the palate – given attentiveness, air and patience in a large glass, its true strengths become apparent: length instead of width, expressiveness instead of loudness. Because not the volume is crucial, but the sound quality. Sensitively animating acid and the pure, cool elegance of the fruit invigorate. The concentrated structure of fine-grained tannin is effortless in the 2015 Blaufränkisch Alter Berg. On the one side, this combination causes the wine to vibrate with energy, yet on the other still appear marvelously relaxed and rested.

“From very shallow limestone soils in the southeast-facing cru of Winden, the 2015 Blaufränkisch Ried Alter Berg is pure, deep and intense but very fine and elegant on the well-defined nose where dark cherry and black berry aromas intermix with flinty terroir, violet, raw meat and iron-rich/bloody notes. Full-bodied and silky on the palate, with ripe and concentrated, very elegant fruit, this is a noble Blaufränkisch with a firm structure and a still tight and somewhat closed but lingering, salty and vital finish. This is a great Blaufränkisch in the making, and it will certainly benefit from further bottle aging. Due to the pure limestone soils, this is the most "Burgundian" Blaufränkisch from Gernot Heinrich.” – Stephan Reinhardt, Robert Parker

Robert Parker: 94 points, Falstaff Magazine: 94 points

Very Limited: 24 bottles imported

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This wine expresses a southeast exposed slope of the Leithaberg (Leitha Mountains) in Winden. A cooling forest crowns this marvellous vineyard, which looks toward Neusiedler See (Lake Neusiedl). Giant cherry trees grow between the vines and one finds million-year-old fossils from a prehistoric sea throughout the meagre limestone dominated soils that lend this wine its extraordinary minerality.

Handpicked mid-October, spontaneous fermentation with three weeks maceration in wooden fermentation vats, matured for 28 months in used 500-litre oak barrels.

Residual Sugar: 1 g/l

Acidity: 6.4 g/l