2023 Heidi Schröck & Söhne Blaufränkisch Klum
£24.50
Kulm is the name of the vineyard where this fruit comes from, planted by Heidi’s three formidable (resolutely unmarried) in 1955. Kulm means ski jump, and it’s the shape of the contour of the vineyard. Organic viticulture. Fermented and aged for 14 months in Stockinger oak.
“David Hockney did a piece around 1977 called ‘In a Chiaroscuro, from The Blue Guitar’, referencing Wallace Stevens’ poem, The Man With The Blue Guitar and the poem’s possible reference to Pablo Picasso’s chiaroscuro work of 1903 entirely in blue and blue-black called The Old Guitarist. If I didn’t have to write a tasting note about this wine, I would ask you to pour a glass, find a quiet windowsill on a blue night, and read the poem while you sip the wine. Perhaps you will find, like I did, in the wine and the poem, the nail and the guitar string, the smoky dew and the shadow. Perhaps you might taste the drenched thunder and feel the rhapsody of things. Or perhaps you will find, like I did, blueberries, black pepper, marzipan and graphite and the taste, as you go down worn stone steps to places under the earth, of the ancient air of cellars. There is a line in the poem, about a man, ‘hanging his shawl upon the wind’. And when I read that, I knew it described the tannins here: a shawl upon the wind. GV”
17.5/20 Tamlyn Currin for Jancis Robinson MW
Order Any 6+ Bottles For Fast FREE Delivery.
Product Description
Heidi Schröck’s family have made wine in the village of Rust (Burgenland), just five miles from the Hungarian border, for more than 300 years. After taking over from her father in 1983, she has propelled this 10-hectare estate to modern acclaim. Heidi is a pioneering figure in Austrian winemaking, helping revive traditional varieties such as Furmint, once widely planted before the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. She was also the first woman to qualify as a Master of Viticulture and Winemaking at the Weinbauschule Eisenstadt and Landwirtschaftskammer schools in Burgenland. Since founding the organisation “11 Women & Their Wines” in 2001, she has played a key role in promoting female winemakers in Austria, inspiring a generation of women to join the country’s wine trade.
Heidi’s southeast-facing vineyards lie along the western banks of Lake Neusiedl, on sandy soils with clay, gravel, grey quartz and schist. The sites form a natural semi-amphitheatre that enjoys significantly more sunlight hours than most of Austria. Here, she sustainably cultivates classic Austrian varieties, including Zweigelt, Furmint, Blaufränkisch and St Laurent. In 2019, she was joined by her twin sons, Johannes and Georg, who honed their craft in Bordeaux, New Zealand, Tuscany, and Switzerland. Together, they continue to make wines that do justice to their family heritage, while keeping their sights set firmly on the future.
The ‘Riede Kulm’ Blaufränkisch hails from the estate’s oldest vineyard, planted by Heidi’s three great-aunts in 1955. It offers a benchmark example of Burgenland’s signature variety. With a small percentage of whole clusters used in the ferment, ‘Riede Kulm’ is brimming with red forest berries and black pepper notes.
Additional Information
| ABV | 13% |
|---|---|
| Bottle Size | Bottle 75cl |
| Colour | Red |
| Country | Austria |
| Critic Score | 17.5/20 |
| Drink until | 2038 |
| Style | Still |
| Sweetness | Dry |
| Vintage | 2023 |
