Jurtschitsch
The amiable, manifestly able trio of Jurtschitsch brothers directed their family’s widely revered estate (also known as the Sonnhof) for close to four decades, during much of which time their impressive array of top Kamptal sites was organically farmed. Bottled results have over the years sometimes struck me as impressive, but sometimes also as underwhelming. I was a bit late in catching up to developments here since the 2008 assumption of control, in viticulture and vinification respectively, by Alwin Jurtschitsch and Stefanie Jurtschitsch née Hasselbach (of the eponymous Nackenheim winegrowing family). This young couple, brought together through their studies in Germany’s Geisenheim institute, is transforming their estate into one of the most daringly innovative and exciting in Lower Austria, and considering the competition even just in their Kamptal neighborhood, that’s saying something.
A regimen of biodynamics beginning with the estate’s top vineyards (and one incorporating drastic reduction in the use of copper sulfate, as well as the practice of so-called “gentle pruning”) is being complemented by spontaneous fermentation; extremely leisurely, low-sulfur élevage, almost entirely in large casks; and gentle, in part unfiltered, bottling. “Nobody in the family could really tell us what was the character of each vineyard,” explained Alwin Jurtschitsch, “because the character of each wine used to be defined by how it was handled. We had to figure that out for ourselves and achieve a mental picture of each site.”
None of the promising recent developments here would have been possible, though, without shrinking production, shedding fruit contracts and focusing on the estate’s prime vineyards, a downsizing done with the blessing of the outgoing generation. At the same time, Alwin Jurtschitsch is keenly pursuing selective expansion wherever he sees opportunities afforded by especially fine sites or pre-clonal vines. “I’m collecting stone terraces,” remarked Jurtschitsch, who could have added “and old vines.” Before its 1960s Flurbereinigung (vineyard reorganization), one of the first to take place in postwar Austria, the Heiligenstein, in Jurtschitsch’s words, “looked just like the Wachau.” He recently finished repairing and in part replanting one of the largest of what few terraced sections remain in that great, geologically unique site. Another sector, at the upper limit of the site and bordered by woods where previously there was Welschriesling, has been planted to selections from old Saar vines. Virtually all of the Heiligenstein is, like other top Austrian sites, irrigated on a fixed schedule set collectively by its region’s growers. Alwin Jurtschitsch’s response has been to install valves on his hose lines with the intention of dry-farming in all but emergency circumstances.
In 2010, the new team attempted to mitigate high acidity by means of several days of skin contact, but the 2013s stood in the presses only overnight. “Were we too radical?” asked Alwin Jurtschitsch about his and his wife’s approach to vintage 2013, some of their wines from which weren’t bottled until April of this year. “With zero botrytis at harvest and zero chaptalization, would the wines be too lean?” he wondered in the spring of last year. The answers, I’d say, are “no” and “no.” The finished results eloquently bespeak his stated intention “to back away from opulence in the direction of coolness and elegance.” And when it comes to Grüner Veltliner, even from the best sites, Jurtschitsch emphasizes that he seeks to preserve cooling and crunchy attributes by picking relatively early. “We want to make Grüner Veltliner, not yellow Veltliner,” he quipped. “I tried higher yields and later picking,’ he added, “but that didn’t work.” An ongoing series of the least orthodox Jurtschitsch bottlings is called “Discoveries from Langenlois.” But if you’re new to the wines of this estate or are, like me, returning to them after a few years's absence, practically all of them are going to merit that title.
When I showed up here the evening before harvest began this September to retaste a short list of 2013s, Alwin Jurtschitsch decided to take advantage of the occasion to open virtually the entire 2013 Jurtschitsch range, saying he’d wanted to compare them all himself after long absence.
From 2013: A Great Vintage for Austrian Riesling and Grüner Veltliner (Nov 2015) by David Schildknecht
2013 Grüner Veltliner Loess
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Color: White
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2013 Grüner Veltliner Stein
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2013 Grüner Veltliner Loiserberg
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2013 Grüner Veltliner Dechant Alte Reben
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2013 Grüner Veltliner Lamm
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Color: White
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2013 Grüner Veltliner Schenkenbichl
Release Price: $42
Color: White
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2013 Grüner Veltliner Freier Loiser
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2013 Grüner Veltliner Amour Fou
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2013 Riesling Heiligenstein
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Color: White
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2013 Riesling Heiligenstein Alte Reben
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2013 Riesling Quelle
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