Claus Preisginer, "Kalkundkiesel" 2018

This is Claus’s expression of different soil types around Lake Neusiedl and into the Leitha Hills. A broad and elegant white blend with dizzying aromatics and slight effervescence -- a very fun picnic bottle.

Vinification: 50% Grüner-Veltliner, 40% Weissburgunder, 10% Muskateller (Muscat Ottonel), the grapes are hand-harvested from several vineyards on the Leitha slopes from ~50 year-old vines grown in Gravel (Kiesel) and Limestone (Kalk). Whole cluster spontaneous fermentation occurs in stainless steel, and the wine is aged for one year in used big oak casks. Unfined, unfiltered, no additional SO2. <11% ABV

Producer Spotlight
Lake Neusiedl, a 20-mile long pool of freshwater never deeper than a meter, is the central topographical feature of Burgenland where Claus Preisinger has been making biodynamic wines for nearly two decades, increasing output and quality with seemingly every vintage. This is an area comparable to Bordeaux’s Médoc, with its mild Pannonian climate, and the Leitha Hills not far from marshland. Historically, some of Austria’s greatest reds and sweet wines have been made here. Landing on our shelves are the much-loved cuvées: Puszta Libre! (Puszta=Plains - a reference to the land that extends east into Hungary), Kalkundkiesel, named for the relevant grapes’ soils (Kalk=limestone, Kiesel=Gravel), and finally, his pét-nat rosé Ancestral.