THIERY WEBER (Kremstal, Austria)
Cantus Grüner Veltliner 2007
Grüner Veltliner picked from first sweep through the vineyards. Pressed off into tank and allowed 12hrs contact with skins. All tank fermented and bottled with light filtration.
The 2006 vintage was a new harvest for the Weber family, marking the beginning of a third generation of winemaking. The first was with the French implant of the grandfather, Thierry, who handed the vines to a brother-in-law, Eric Weber (with wife Maria), who then passed the baton to young Artur. A youthful approach came to the winery then, with fresh schooling and a broader sense of the wine in the world and not only, new lofty goals but the zeal of experimentation to reach them. Artur now reigns over 17ha of indigenous and international grapes (Grˆºner veltliner, Zweigelt, Sauvignon blanc, Chardonnay, and some Cabernet Sauvignon), expanding the field by 5 new hectares. He has, at his disposal, modern equipment in the cellar, with tank and older French oak barrels but insists that wine is made in the vineyards. Manipulation is limited to mostly guidance of the fermentations to clean expressions of the soils. His current experiment lies in time of picking to determine the intensity and spirit of each bottling. He makes a separate pass through the vines at harvest to pick a different complexity for his 3 levels of wines. For now, there is a specific regimen for each level in the cellar, using: oak or tank, maceration or clean run juice, lees contact with or without stirring. As he learns the history of each vineyard though, perhaps his decisions will change. History may be the best teacher but for the sharp 30-something winemaker, a keen appreciation for the ’Äònow’Äô might lead to a new interpretation of an old estate. After all, the third time is the charm. For now, we will enjoy his first efforts.
Grüner Veltliner picked from first sweep through the vineyards. Pressed off into tank and allowed 12hrs contact with skins. All tank fermented and bottled with light filtration.