2021 Grüner Veltliner Rosenberg

The Ott estate was founded around 1889 and run as a mixed farm. Eduard Ott specialized in viticulture in 1982. He eschewed mineral fertilizers since 1971 and herbicides since 1982. His son, Bernhard Ott, who now runs the estate, took over in 1993 after training in Krems (both in wine and business) and working with Weingut Dautel in Wuerttemberg, Germany. Ott continued in this vein, exploring organic and biodynamic viticulture and, in 2006, becoming a founder member of the biodynamic respekt-BIODYN association. Sustainability is also evident in the fact that an in-house kitchen caters to the 16 full-time employees, and the estate generates a surplus of electricity. Ott farms 50 hectares, 90% of which are planted to Grüner Veltliner, followed by Riesling, Zweigelt, Blaufränkisch and Pinot Noir—the latter three for rosé production—and some Welschriesling. “We make no sparkling wine, we make no red wine, we make no grape juice, we are Grüner Veltliner specialists,” Ott says with conviction. He explores Welschriesling, which he likens to the role Aligoté plays in Burgundy—a variety for poorer soils where Grüner does not excel. All fruit is hand-harvested. Grüner Veltliner is crushed, macerated and pressed gently in a basket press, which results in relatively clear juice. It is then fermented spontaneously in barrel, where it stays for a year or two on lees. The wines have become much more slender in recent years, and the fine Ott style seems to defy the rich loess soils of the Wagram. Ott says he wants to make Grüner Veltliner without any botrytis influence, with at most 13% ABV. During my visit, I tasted the current releases of the site-designated Grüner Veltliners from the 2021 vintage.