2021 Jurtschitsch ‘Stein’ Grüner Veltliner

Grapes: Grüner Veltliner

Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Certified organic farming, quartz, granite, dolomite rock soils, 500m elevation; fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks and left to rest on the fine lees before bottling in spring; bottled with <40ppm SO2

Winemaker: Alwin Jurtschitsch & Stefanie Hasselbach

NEW VINTAGE!  The family-owned Jurtschitsch winery, the oldest in the area (16th century!), has now been passed on to Alwin Jurtschitsch and his wife, Stefanie Hasselbach, a young couple who are leaders in the Kamptal’s natural wine movement. Alwin and Stef started working at the winery in 2006, converted all of the vineyards to organic viticulture, and from day one made wine in an old-school classic style, without any additions, aside from minimal sulfur at bottling. They are continually improving how they work: replanting more densely, using whey to treat for mildew instead of using copper sulphate, and working with new pruning methods. All the vineyards are certified organic and protecting biodiversity has always been a priority. Stef explains that, “The more life you have in the vineyard, the more stable the entire system is.” Wild life is abundant in the Jurtschitsch vineyards, with many fruit trees, grass, garlic, wildflowers and butterflies fluttering amongst the vines.  All of this is really rare in cold, wet Austria.

The grapes for this wine come from various mountain-sloped vineyards – pristine, Alpine, Heidi territory. And the 'Stein' is textbook perfect Gruner: cool, elegant and compact, with intense citrus, acid and wet rock, zippy, refreshing and appetite-whetting. It tastes like lemon-lime soda on acid! Give it a swirl and a few minutes in the glass, and you get something like peppery arugula, green pear and lemony spritz. The ultimate, all-purpose food wine – if you’re unsure what to serve with dinner, go Grüner!