My BlueDanube shipment arrived ystrday, so I pobega'd:
1. Reiterer Schilcher Rose Exclusiv Weststeirmark/Austria (11.5%; www.Weingut-Reiterer.com) Christian Reiterer/Weis 2015: Pale garnet color w/ slight fizz/bubbles; some grapey/cranberry/strawberry/spicy light earthy bit Nehi strawberry soda pop pleasant nose; slight frizzante/fizzy somewhat Nehi strawberry soda pop rather cranberry/strawberry/grapey somewhat bitter/tangy flavor w/ little tannins; med.short some cranberry/strawberry/soda pop light earthy some bitter finish w/ no tannins; one step above strawberry soda pop but a pleasant/quaffable fun drinking wine that transports me back to the Steirmark.
$16.95 (BDWC)
________________________
A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Two & half yrs ago, Susan & I visited Austria in October, meeting up in Graz w/ Wolfgang & Bettina Hebar. Bettina hails from the Steirmark area in the South of Austria along the Slovene border. Our first night, we went to a traditional Steirmark restaurant in downtown/old Graz. With a sly grin, Wolfgang urged me to order a pitcher of Schilcher, a wine I'd never heard of. Expecting a great Austrian wine, it came as a bit of a shock. It was very much like strawberry soda pop, slightly sweet, very fizzy, pale color...made for guzzling down. Over the next three days of touring the Steirmark, I had several more renditions of Schilcher, all w/ the same reaction...strawberry soda pop.
Schilcher is a wine made mostly in West Steirmark and Southern Burgenland. It is made from the Blauer Wildbacher grape, an indigenous grape apparently related to Blaufrankisch. It is most often served during/at the end of harvest, in pitchers, whilst still fermenting and often before the fermentation has gone dry. A Fall/seasonal thing. So I was surprised to find a Schlicher listed on the BlueDanube (www.BlueDanubeWine.com) Site and knew I had to order a btl (only one left now) to toast our visit w/ Wolfgang & Bettina. This wine was that btl.
Schlicher is most often made as a (still-fermenting) rose, but white and Frizzante/Sekt versions exist and even a still red Blauer Wildbacher. Because of its seasonality, it is often compared to Beaujolais Noveau, a badly flawed comparison. The popularity of Noveau is based only on a successful marketing program. Schilcher is an obscure seasonal wine based on nothing more than being something fun to drink...one step above strawberry soda pop.
The Steirmark is an absolutely beautiful wine region to visit, strewn w/ steep hillsides blanketed in vines. Alas, you don't see much wine from this area in the USA. 'Tis a pity, as the wines can be very good.
__________________
2. Fractals: Having a mathematical background, this wine was an absolute hoot to drink. As the bubbles released from the wine, they formed these absolutely beautiful fractals on the surface of the wine that swirled and twirled around, connecting & reconnecting. They were mesmerizing. I've only seen that before in a (flawed) Forlorn-Hope wine. I had to resist the urge to pull out my slide rule, look up the Feigenbaum number, and start doing chaos calculations.
Tom