Kremstal Archives - Wine Chords

Proidl for patience

Published 16. August 2024 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

This Austrian wine was served at the Tempo wine bar in Sandnes, Norway last week.

Proidl proudly proclaim that the most important treatments in the processing of their wines are patience, tasting and observing. And this, they do in the Kremstal, Niederösterreich. Their ancestors emigrated from Germany, near Bremen, in 1650, and they have been making wine in Senftenberg since 1738.

Some keywords are spontaneous fermentation, moving the wines by force of gravity, stirring of the lees and long intervals of maturation sur lie. They have dispensed with any unnecessary additives, any frequent agitation, all pumps and, as they say on their website, “any hysterical filtration procedures”.

The grapes were harvested by hand at the beginning of September, gentle whole-cluster pressing, fermentation in stainless steel and subsequent maturing for three months on the lees.

Senftenberg Grüner Veltliner Freiheit 2022 (Proidl)

Light straw colour. Aroma of peach, lime, herbs and anise. Medium-bodied with good acidity and some white pepper. Good balance and quite uncomplicated drinking at a high level of quality.

Price: Medium

This is not a love song

Published 23. February 2024 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

This wine was offered in a private club tasting last Monday. It’s a low alcohol-high freshness wine. In fact the acidity is almost as insisting as the Public Image Ltd song of the same name. It should work well then, with risottos, rcreamy pastas or with tasty Austrian sausages.

It comes from 80 year old vines in Steiner Schreck, the steepest of all Kremstal sites, and is farmed biodynamically. We are around 320 meters above sea level, and the subsoil consists of gneiss and granite.

The grapes were pressed very slowly for two days in a self-made tree press. The pressing process itself is reductive, but afterwards the juice was deliberately exposed to oxidation. The juice was fermented spontaneously and aged for two and a half years on the lees in an amphora made in Bordeaux. During fermentation, a tiny percentage destemmed grapes were added, to restart the fermentationvim in an intercellular way, like in carbonic maceration. The wine was lightly sulphured.

This is not a Love Song 2020 (Heidelinde & Markus Lang)

Light golden yellow. Concentrated aromas of gooseberry, green apples, flowers, lemon and a touch of herbs. On the palate it’s structured from the acidity, and a fine-grained texture from the terracotta. It’s got a touch of price and saltiness. It’s a wine with tension and electricity.

Price: High

A Grüner at Grünerløkka

Published 1. September 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

I’m in Oslo for the Skin Orange wine fair. In the Grünerløkka neighborhood, named after Friedrich Grüner in the late 19th century, what could be more appropriate than to open with a magnificent grüner veltliner? Mr. Grüner lived 250 years earlier, by the way, and served as town administrator and master of the mint.

Anyway, at Skaal Matbar I was surprised to see a wine from Stagard (or Stagård). They have been in Kremstal for 10 generations, and it was the father of Urban, one of the current owners, who introduced the family name to the business. I remembered them from my time as an importer and tasted all their wines many years ago. Since then they have taken on a biodynamic approach. This wine is a blend of two vintages, I think 2018 and 19. It’s unfiltered and bottled with only minimal added sulfur.

At Skaal you can enjoy tasty small dishes to a selection of wines by the glass. At the moment they serve oysters, schnitzel, charcuterie and more, and the wines are a little bit of everything, thankfully not the same as offered by everyone else.

Medusa N/V (Lesehof Stagård)

Light yellow. Fresh aroma of citrus (lemon zest), baked apple, a light peel character and also a mineral touch. It’s immediately appealing, but it also dense and tasty and has a certain complexity. Slightly spritzy, with a stimulating citric acidity.

Price: Medium

Tag: Kremstal

Proidl for patience

This is not a love song

A Grüner at Grünerløkka