Schloss Maissau- Ried Juliusberg Reserve 2017

Grapes are farmed organically (ECOCERT) and have been certified since 2016. These grapes were allowed to hang on the vine all the way until October 17th. This gives the wine a very distinctive style- similar to the Smaragd wines of the Wachau. Grapes are hand-picked.

Soil Type(s): Loess over a high concentration of granite

After press, the grapes sat for 10 hours on the skins, fermenting in stainless steel at temperatures no less than 21°C. This is different from the DAC wine which is done at much lower temperatures. The goal was to let the wild and floral notes shine through a warmer fermentation. Because of the rocky granitic soil the aromatics are similar to Riesling and make the wine even refreshing. Incredibly, this wine was left for 4 years on the fine lees without stirring and was never moved until bottling, no filtration. Always in stainless steel, no oak influence.

The Schloss Maissau is a small passion project of the Gruber family. They had the opportunity to manage, farm and make wine from the very old vineyards next to the historic 13th century Schloss Maissau castle. In fact, they have documents from year 1114 that reference these vineyards. In 2006, the current caretaker of the castle approached Ewald's dad to revitalize the production of the wines from the castle's grounds. It took seven years to get the chemicals out of the ground, 3 more to apply for organic status. They are certified organic with the 2016 vintage onwards. In total they have 5 hectares and make 4000 cases of Grüner Veltliner wine.

Sturgeon, seafood risotto, cauliflower steak, cabbage dumplings, most dim sum, vol au vent, chicken pot pie, turnips, ramps, rutabaga, white pizza, white fish of any sort.

• Austrian, Northern Italian, Cantonese, Russian, Scandinavian