Moric Gruner Veltliner “Still a Gorgeous Place” Sankt Georgen 2019

Type: White
Country: Austria
Region: Burgenland
Grape Variety: Gruner Veltliner, Chardonnay, Riesling, Welschriesling
Rating: 95 James Suckling Points

Climate: Hot, continental Pannonian climate
Terroir: 42 to 65-year-old vines planted on limestone soil
Winemaking: After direct pressing without maceration, the juice was spontaneously fermented and aged in 500-litre tonneaux

Color: Intense straw yellow
Nose: Very opulent aromas of roasted nuts, yellow stone fruit, caramel initially and some underlying herbal notes, some pear cream and stone
Palate: A lot of power and a lot of depth and at the beginning a clear note of campino candy orange, but this disappears with time. With air, the Grüner Veltliner becomes multi-dimensional and complex with rather white-fleshed fruit, notes of a long lees ageing, citrus fruits and verbena. The wine seems creamy but also has a surprising amount of tannin for not having had a maceration period. The finish is tartly herbal, juicy, generous and long

About the Winery:
Roland Velich is the passionate winemaker behind an Austrian red touted to rival Grand Cru Burgundy. While Austria is better known for its whites, Roland had a fascination with the unusual red grape, Blaufränkisch. So he left his family’s estate and set up Weingut Moric (pronounced Moritz) in the lesser-known Mittelburgenland, which is close to the Hungarian Border around an hour’s drive from Vienna. Such was his determination, he paid for the estate using money that he’d saved working in a casino as a croupier. Roland now seeks out high-yielding, old-vine vineyards, and vinifies the grapes as simply as possible, looking to bring out Blaufränkisch’s inherently pure, elegant character.

As a self-professed Burgundy fan, his reds echo the finesse of Grand Cru Pinot Noir, and, rather than try to over-extract fruit flavours like some of his predecessors, Roland’s wines have a cool climate quality more commonly found in fine Nebbiolo or Northern Rhône Syrah. His top wine is a blend of eight different vineyard sites and includes some of the oldest vines that surround the village of Lutzmannsburg. These are unique reds which brilliantly echo their terroir.