Description
Dope is a rugged style of natural wine rosé with a very light mousse and appropriately named, anything but frumpy. Be warned, it can be opened early in the day, preferably in the blazing sun. A rosé from the spicy Blaufränkisch grape, matured in amphora (large clay pots). Exciting and playful with notes of ripe cherries, raspberries, strawberry jam, blossom and spices and yet unexpectedly earthy. Most of Claus' wines are a lot cleaner/purer. Dope is the exception where Claus wanted to explore the wilder edge for the experiment.
Country / Region: Austria / Burgenland
Grape variety(s): 100% Blaufränkisch (Lemberger)
In the vineyard: The vineyards are located on the north side of Lake Neusiedl, on the Goldberg. With vines facing southeast. The soil here contains fossil limestone and slate. Hand-picked beginning of October, pre-selection in the vineyard
In the wine cellar: spontaneous fermentation on amphora. Malolactic fermentation. Aging for eight months on amphora. Unfiltered, without addition of So2.
Quality mark: Biodynamic & Vin nature
Claus Preisinger is a talented young Austrian winemaker who has become an established name in the biodynamic/natural wine scene. At the Neusiedlersee, near Gols, his father cultivated a small 3 ha of orchards, as a hobby. After helping his father in the orchards for years and experience in California and with neighbor Hans Nittnaus, he took over his father's orchards in 2000. Claus has managed to expand these to a whopping 17 ha. On a soil consisting predominantly of fossil limestone and calcareous sandstone , he cultivates mainly local Blaufrankisch, together with St. Laurent, Zweigelt, Pinot Noir, Weissburgunder, Gruner Veltliner and Welschriesling. Gols is located on the eastern side of the Neusiedlersee in the so-called Seewinkel. This extends to the Hungarian border. Here it is scorching hot in the summer, resulting in the production of top red wines. They can compete worldwide. "My wines are a mirror image of nature. I do not intervene artificially in the vineyard or in the cellar. Even if I can improve the result, I still accept what nature gives of itself instead of intervening and manipulating." According to Claus Preisinger.
Claus is also co-founder of Pannobile (2004), a collective from Burgenland of 9 winegrowers (including Nittnaus and Pittnauer) who have been working the vineyards strictly biodynamically since 1994 and making natural wine in the wine cellar. Nothing out and nothing in. With the exception of his playful 'Beaujolais wine' Puszta Libre, Claus' wines are clean/pure and especially show the terroir well in the wine. Claus uses various methods and techniques to make different styles of wine. From Ancestral (Perlwein), fresh Puszta Libre that is drunk chilled (Maceration Carbonique), elegant white wines with skin maceration (Orange wine), top white wines to very powerful full red wines. Der Claus shows that natural wine does not have to be full of wine faults, but can be very good, pure and clean. Pure vin nature.
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