March 10th, 2023 Newsletter

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Nikolaihof 'Zwickl' Wachau Grüner Veltliner 2020, Austria $28.99

Nikolaihof is one of the oldest wine estates in Austria, with a history that goes back almost 2000 years to the Roman Empire. The foundations of the current house date to a Roman tower that existed as early as 63 B.C. Wine has been produced here since the time of the Celts, which lasted from about 1000 B.C. to 500 B.C. The first written evidence of winemaking comes from 470 A.D. when Germanic monks who acquired the estate during the collapse of Rome documented their ownership of the ‘Im Weingebirge’ vineyard, which is the earliest known vineyard site in all of Europe. Nikolaihof’s holdings are some of the farthest east in the Wachau near the village of Mautern on the Danube’s south bank.

In 1894 the Saahs family acquired Nikolaihof and carried on the traditions the monks had established. When grape growing and winemaking took on a larger role in the 1960s under the stewardship of Nicholas and Christine Saahs, farming practices stayed the same, and the use of chemicals continued to be eschewed. Eventually Christine pursued biodynamic farming, with the estate becoming fully biodynamic in 1971, and Demeter certified in 1998. In 2005, Nikolaus Saahs, Christine and Nicholas’ son, took over winemaking and operations at this historic winery.

Nikolaihof still functions as a bio-diverse farm growing herbs, fruits and flowers, producing grapeseed oil, and tending beehives for honey. Natural fermentations occur in Austrian oak vessels in their cold 700-year-old cellar. Long lees contact and aging are the norm, with some wines aging as long as 15 years before being bottled.

The Grüner Veltliner Zwickl naturtrüb (naturally cloudy) was sourced from multiple sites near Mautern, from vines planted on Loess. Here’s a funny note from the importer's site: This is, in essence, an unfiltered “Hefeabzug,” and you get two wines in the same bottle if you want. How? It’s fallen bright in the top one-third, and if you pour carefully you will have a clear wine. You can then shake the rest of the bottle to mix the sediment and pour yourselves a cloudy glass of tasty atavism. 

Huh? 

In any event, this is a dry, prickly (in a good way) intense, fruity white that has been fermented in stainless steel and bottled unfiltered after six months on the fine lees. The finish is salty, silty, and dry, with a slight grip. 

Wein Goutte Puffy Shirt Rosé 2021, Franken, Germany $31.00

Note from the importer, because we haven’t tasted it and it just arrived: I’d propose, despite the wine’s name and genre, this is actually quite a serious wine, with a soul more of a restrained and cerebral red wine and the spirit of a white wine. It’s a blend of Dornfelder and Regent. The Dornfelder was a bit under the ideal ripeness level and the Regent purposefully over that same ideal ripeness level, seeking a balance in the middle.

It’s only a touch over 10% alcohol, yet the wine is precocious and fruity, yet then layered and shimmering with an oily herbal quality, sexy pine needles and a very clean minerality. The wine is silken and feels like it could get opulent, yet it presents with a slinky, serpentine acidity that keeps is all in check. This is superb; a rosé, it seems to me, to drink with richer foods while the sun sets earlier in the day.

Read more about the producer here. 

Estación Yumbel Quinta de Unihue Secano Interior 2021, BioBio, Chile $21.00

Mauricio and Daniela Gonzalez dry farm 4 hectares of Pais, Malbec, and Moscatel, all of which are bush vines planted on the volcanic soils of Chile’s Secano Interior de Yumbel. Mauricio sites Pedro Parra as the most influential figure in his career so far, whom he met while in Mendoza at Altos Las Hormigas. Pedro convinced him that he should look to the Chile’s “forgotten vineyards” where Mauricio had spent very little time previously. Another project with some friends, Tinto de Rulo, led him to the village of Yumbel, where this project began. 

Mauricio makes the wine low-tech in an old wooden, dirt-floored barn with an old, basket press and an old (this adjective is getting a lot of use!) mechanical de-stemmer that Mauricio shares with some friends. Are they old? Maybe. Who knows. They produce somewhere around 18,000 total bottles a year; their Pipeño accounts for just over half of that.

This is 100% País from 200+ year old bush vines on about .5hectare. It’s a continuation of the Pipeño vineyard but on different soils that become more compact and granitic as the steep slope ascends. The grapes are hand-harvested and then fermented in large Rauli tanks (the native beechwood that’s both dense and finely grained and takes many decades to mature) with indigenous yeasts. It’s then aged in a combination of old neutral barrels (minimum 6th use) and tanks for around 7 months. Bottled unfined, unfiltered, and with zero sulphur.

This natural wine is clean and fresh, with with struck match and crushed stones on the nose followed by dried flowers and herbs. The palate is clean, lean red fruit, with lots of acidity. It finishes with a touch of bandaids and smoke. It’s just weird enough for your natty friends and just normal enough for your…normal friends. 

Vallana Boca 2017, Piedmont, Italy $36.99

Vallana is situated in the village of Maggiora in the Alto Piemonte, more than 100 miles north of Barolo. Today, the estate is run by Giuseppina Vallana, together with her son Francis (a Ph.D. in Viticulture and Oenology), and her daughters Marina and Miriam. The estate as it exists today was formed in 1937, but the Vallana name was synonymous with great wine as early as the 18th century. Farming and winemaking is organic. 

Vallana describes the qualities of their locale: Here, at the base of the Alps, at the foot of Monte Rosa, where the Mediterranean and Continental climates meet, Alto Piemonte takes on a charming and highly aromatic character. Alto Piemonte has acidic soils, rather than the alkaline soils of the Langhe, giving the wine its acid backbone and ultimately the structure and character that adds to the age-ability. These vineyard sites are on gently sloping terraces along the left bank of the river Sesia and Lake Maggiore.

Vallana owns vineyard sites within Colline Novaresi including the two important crus of Boca and Gattinara. Boca is located near Gattinara and Ghemme.

The wine is a blend of Nebbiolo (65%), Vespolina (20%) and Uva Rara (15%). Each variety is harvested and fermented separately; fermentation is in cement vats with aggressive pump overs. Wines are blended and aged in 10HL casks for two years. Boca must age at least four years before release but Vallana generally goes further and ages their wines longer.

This wine is elegant and aromatic, with delicate fruit, dried flowers, and dusty, earthy minerality throughout, and a lovely, silky finish.