Arndorfer

Certified Organic. Grüner Veltliner fermented on Riesling skins for ten days to gain more fruit expression and complexity. (To underline the labor-intensive quality of the way this wine is made: after the Riesling grapes are pressed whole-cluster, the Arndorfers take the pressed bunches out and separate the skins from the stems by hand.) Aged for four months in 2/3 stainless steel and 1/3 in used French oak barrels. 8 mg/l SO2 added before bottling. Unfined, unfiltered, and handled by gravity. One of three newer, experimental natural wines named after Martin’s three daughters, a way for him to continue pushing the limits of his winemaking.

Certified Organic. 25% Neuberger, 25% Chardonnay, 30% Grüner Veltliner, 20% Riesling. All of these grapes are taken from one of Martin’s most important vineyard sites in the Kamptal, the Gaisberg, as a way of giving a snapshot of the terroir of the whole hillside. The Chardonnay and Neuberger are cofermented; Grüner and Riesling are vinified on their own; everything is fermented in neutral French oak barrels and aged on full lees for ten months, then blended together. Unfined, unfiltered, with 20mg/l SO2 added just before bottling. This wine was formerly three separate ‘die Liedenschaft’ bottlings; Martin has combined the wines to give the most nuanced picture of the site.

Certified Organic. Whole-cluster Zweigelt co-fermented with crushed Sauvignon Blanc.  Maceration on the Sauvignon Blanc and Zweigelt skins for fourteen days; then pressed off and aged for six months in used French oak. 8 mg/l SO2 added before bottling. Unfined, unfiltered, and handled by gravity. One of three newer, experimental natural wines named after Martin’s three daughters, a way for him to continue pushing the limits of his winemaking.

Certified Organic. Zweigelt macerated for around 14 hours on skins before direct pressing, then fermented crushed Grüner Veltliner grapes for 14 days in stainless steel–in other words, this is a rosé made like an ‘orange wine’ but with red fruit on white grape skins! During fermentation, the Grüner skins add spiciness and complexity to the black and purple fruit aromas of Zweigelt. To make things as hands-on as possible, all of the skins are hand-destemmed.  Aged for six months in 2/3 stainless steel and the rest in neutral French barriques. Bottled by gravity with no fining nor filtration. 8 mg/l SO2 added at bottling. The Rosa Marie is the second of three newer, experimental natural wines, named after Martin and Anna’s three daughters, as a way for them to continue pushing the limits of their winemaking.

Certified Organic. 50% Chardonnay, 50% Neuburger, from two different vineyard sources on chalk and loess respectively.  Both vineyards are picked on the same day and pressed together; the Neuburger macerated for eight hours on skins before pressing; the Chardonnay was added whole-cluster to the Neuburger mash, then pressed immediately.  Aged for 10 months on the lees in neutral French oak barrels, no batonnage or racking. 20mg SO2 added at bottling. A striking wine: Arndorfer’s Kamptal answer to Burgundy, with the Neuberger adding something slightly tropical and herbal. The 2018 is the final vintage of this wine, as these varieties will be blended into a single-vineyard white blend, something of a Grand Cru bottling for the Arndorfers, in the coming years!

Certified Organic. A blend of 60% Neuburger, 25% Grüner and 15% Riesling, a traditional mix in this part of the Kamptal. It’s a single field-blend vineyard, planted in 1958 on loess soils. All grapes were macerated four hours on skins before pressing whole-cluster; fermented and aged in a mix of wood and steel. Martin bought this parcel on the Wechselberg from an older farmer in 2005: most of the terraces on this hill had been reworked and widened for tractors, but this little bit was the last piece with skinny terraces and old vines. Martin’s grandfather said that if Martin bought the parcel, he was going to lie to his friends at the café in town and say he knew nothing about it. Now, thankfully, we have this stunning old-vine Gemischter Satz, completely worked by hand.

Certified Organic. Predominantly Grüner Veltliner, with a mix of Riesling, Neuberger, and Sauvignon Blanc rounding out the blend. Technically, it’s 60% Grüner Veltliner cofermented with Riesling in concrete tulip, 10% Grüner Veltliner cofermented with Riesling in stainless steel, 10% Neuburger skin-fermented in stainless steel, 15% Grüner Veltliner skin-fermented in stainless steel, 5% macerated Sauvignon blanc in stainless steel. All of the tanks were pressed off into a mix of neutral French oak and concrete tulip for 7-8 months of aging on full lees. 8 mg/l SO2 at bottling. This seemingly complicated wine is a special blend Martin and Anna put together exclusively for New York: ‘Gerne’ is a word used in service or hospitality in Austria to mean, ‘it’s my pleasure,’ just as it is our pleasure to give the Arndorfers’ wines have a home with us in NY. It’s a blend that won’t be repeated–a once-in-a-blue-moon special assemblage from the Arndorfers’ cellar.

Certified Organic. 100% Gruner Veltliner. Sourced from 4 different vineyards: Gaisberg, on loess soil with primary rock subsoil; Wechselberg, on heavy dark clay with high amounts of chalk; Hasel on deep loess; and Stangl, also on deep loess. These are all south-facing terraces with altitudes between 200-330, planted between 1959 and 2000. Whole cluster pressed, with no maceration before. Fermented with native yeast and aged for 11 months, 80% in large neutral barrels and 20% in stainless steel. (Barrels are between 1200-1900L!) Sulfur added once (20 mg/l – just before bottling. ‘Strasser Weinberge’ is a protected name for more-or-less village wines for the Arndorfers, which show you all the faces of the variety and the village of Strass in general. Ethereal and powerful all at once: we wish every Kamptal Grüner had this much layering and soul.

Certified Organic. 100% Neuburger. This Neuburger is taken from three special vineyard sites: 40 year-old vines in the Strasser Gaisberg on gneiss, 35 year-old vines in the Zoebinger Gaisberg on gneiss, and 60 year-old vines in the Strasser Bleckenweg, on gravel. 30% of the fruit is fully skin-fermented; the rest is macerated for two hours before pressing off into used French oak. Aged for 11 months on full lees in used French oak where it fermented. Unfined/unfiltered, 12mg/l SO2 added just before bottling. ‘Herrengasse 4’ is the new name and label for the wine that was formerly bottled as Neuburger Strasser Weinberge. Martin and Anna wanted to set this cuvée apart, as Neuburger is special to them–a historical variety, but a bit of an underdog. Herrengasse 4 is Martin’s grandparents’ address; his grandfather planted the first Neuburger vines on the property: so Martin says ‘the passion for Neuburger was born at Herrengasse 4.’

Certified Organic. The very first vintage of this particular wine. Martin loves Müller-Thurgau made with skin contact, and this special example of the style comes from a single vineyard called Merschein. The vineyard is located in a tiny little side valley behind the Gaisberg and Heiligenstein, with vines planted in 1976—it has a similar soil profile to the famous Heiligenstein: lots of primary rock and loess. The vineyard is also relatively chilly, which results in a long, slow growing season for Müller-Thurgau. The resultant wine is only around 10% ABV! Unfined and unfiltered, with a small amount of SO2 at bottling. An amazing example of a variety that’s too often considered humble or as only being floral and flabby. Refined, light, pithy and pretty.

Certified Organic. 100% Neuburger, from 3 different high-quality vineyards. Plantings of this variety have decreased significantly in the past 20 years in Austria, due to the challenges of producing great wines with this grape that’s prone to botrytis; it’s easier for most growers to just plant some Grüner and call it a day. Martin describes their Neuberger as elegant and expressive, with earthy and nutty aromas, a long and persistent palate, and a very salty quality, due to the intensity and ubiquity of the primary rock on which their Neuberger parcels are planted. An excellent cousin of something like a savory, textural Chablis.

Certified Organic. 100% Riesling. ‘Strasser Weinberge’ more or less translates to ‘Strass Hills,’ i.e., something like a village level for how Martin ranks his vineyards. These Riesling vines come from a few vineyards in the immediate surroundings of Strass—altitudes between 230-360m, planted between 1986 and 2010, fermented & aged in a combination of large format neutral French oak and stainless steel barrels. Jasmine tea, peach and apricot: no petrol or odd earthiness on this Riesling with a bit of age—just elegance. A great, nimble response to the monolithic 14% Rieslings that garner all the scores and attention in the more classical wine circles of this region.

Certified Organic. 80% Zweigelt, 20% Pinot Noir, younger vine parcels planted on loam and gravel. ¾ of the fruit is kept whole-cluster, 10% destemmed but kept whole-berry, and the final 20% is destemmed and crushed. 10 days in wooden fermenters for before pressing, then aged for six months in a combinatino of 2000L neutral barrels, with the remaining 30% in neutral 228L barrels. Unfined, unfiltered, with 10 mg/liter SO2 added at bottling. An ideal example of what woodsy, lighter Austrian red wine can be.

Certified Organic. This rare bird Roter Veltliner is sourced from a tiny vineyard called Zöbinger Gaisberg: south-facing terraces planted in 1979 on pure primary rock, in this case gneiss. Rarely does the much-maligned Roter get to inhabit such hallowed terroir as the upper altitudes of the Gaisberg; one generally only finds Riesling here. (It’s a bit like planting Aligoté in Perrières or Dolcetto in Cannubi). Martin purchased this site against the advice of his father in 2010, specifically because of the old-vine Roter and the opportunity to make a benchmark expression. Flashy, kaleidescopic, smelling of red peppercorn, dragonfruit, lemon verbena, Haribo sour candy. Crazy stuff, and no one else makes anything like it.

Certified Organic. 80% Grüner Veltliner, 20% Riesling. Taken from three vineyard sources: Hasel for the GV; Hoeller and Gaisberg for the Riesling. The fruit is harvested on the same day, with the Riesling seeing a few hours of skin contact. Fruit is then pressed together to coferment in large-format neutral oak, with a small part in stainless steel. Aged for six months in those same vessels. Unfined/unfiltered, with 10ppm SO2 added before bottling. “Vereinter Schatz” is a play on words the Arndorfers to skirt new wine laws which disallow them from calling this wine a Gemischter Satz. In German, it sounds like “Gemischter Satz”, but it roughly translates as “United Sweeties”. Always produced like a field blend in the cellar (cofermented).