Michael Opitz - Sauvignon Blanc Reserve, Burgenland, Austria (2022)

TASTING NOTES

Fresh grass, lemon, peach and slate, but with a pretty rich and toasty note and a slight mushroom undercurrent. Saline minerality, tangy and tense. 

10 months aging in large Caucasian old oak. Bottled, unfined and unfiltered.

The Burgenland sits in the furthest east area of Austria, also known as “Lower
Austria”. It is known for producing the richest reds in the country, as well as mineral-driven whites. Located on the continental Pannonian Plain, the summers are quite hot and extremely dry, with low average rainfalls. However, the sub-region of Neusiedlersee near Weingut Opitz, is quite humid and many of the vineyards are consistently able to produce botrytis-affected sweet dessert wines, including the treasured Trockenbeerenauslese that Burgenland is famed for. There are inland saline lakes, leftover from the ancient inland sea, adding a curious complexity to the wines
of the region, particularly the whites. The evenings are cool, slowing the ripening process and maintaining acidity. 

In 2000, 3rd generation winemaker and owner, Michael Opitz, began producing fine
wines from grapes that had been grown in the same spot for over 100 years. Michael’s Motto: “no tricks, just wine”. He takes a serious ecological approach in the vineyard and his wines are all crafted using minimal intervention in the cellar. Grapes are grown in harmony with the local flora and fauna of the Pannonian Plain and the Seewinkel National Park nearby. No pesticides or herbicides are used and he rotates the ground cover between the old vines and dry farms to stress the plants into producing fully ripe fruit. Planted to indigenous grapes like Zweigelt, Blaufränkisch and Grüner Veltliner, Opitz also works with French varietals such as Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc, which grow particularly well in the gravelly, loamy soils of the estate.