After a long day of tasting at Leth we finished the night at the Morwald Restaurant in our hotel. www.moerwald.at
and as you might imagine from the title of my entry, we had sweet Kamptal smoked speck.
I can still taste the delicious dinner that we shared with Franz Leth and Hanz Czerny (winemaker from Wimmer-Czerny) of Avocado Ravioli with Crayfish. The Roasted Pike with spicy celery puree was the best piece of fish I have had all year. One of the most exciting parts about visiting new wine regions is experiencing the local food and understanding the culture. To make us feel right at home, the sommelier at Morwald made sure it was a late first night for us.He kept bringing "something else" every time we wanted to go home which included an older vintage (mid 80's) of Robert Mondavi Fume Blanc. This wine is normally the type that you want to consume young however the group thought it still had a decent amount of fruit.
We arrived at Wimmer-Czerny farm http://www.wimmer-czerny.at the next morning and reconnected with Hanz. His winery is a family run, Demeter certified estate (biodynamic). In addition to making superb wine, he raises a special breed of pig called Mangalitza and all of the plants and seeds he feeds these animals. Hanz says "we love our animals so much we eat them" as he sets out a plate of home-made speck and lardo. Walking through the winery and fields you can see the belief in minimal intervention from Hanz. He let's the land and earth determine the flavors of the wines and is merely an instrument in bringing these wines to us consumers in caring for the land. All wines are punched down by hand, he only uses bentonite on the juice, 6 people work the harvest and no filtering is done. The entire property operates in synergy. The house is heated with wood chips, solar water heaters are used, compost is made on property, eggs for breakfast are hatched every morning, cd's are used to reflect light in the vineyards to deter deer (high-tech pest prevention..don't think so) and the worms are considered Hanz's "most special workers" whose job is to turn the soil as supposed to using tractors.
We sat down to an amazing tasting of Hanz's wine and a homemade lunch of wild goose, red cabbage, arugala salad and the "goose juice" which we all talked about for days. Here are some of my favorites with tasting notes.
2008-Gruner Veltliner Fumberg-iron and rich smoky component, more concentration as the vineyards are in the middle of the slope
2007-Gruner Veltliner Fumberg-developed, intense fruit aromas in addition to the smoky minerals, mandarin oranges and grilled pineapple
2007-Gruner Veltliner Weelfel Alte Reben-tastes like loess (from yesterday when i tasted it from the cliff) along with concentrated pure fruit, pure liquid minerals, like jumping in the lake in Maine. ***my favorite***
2007-Gruner Veltliner Reserve Felserberg- middle of slope, butterscotch, pineapple and candied apple, fattier and richer as it was aged in oak.
2008-Traminer Mitterweg-milk chocolate, for those people who say traminer doesn't have acid they need to try this, smells like asian food, long seductive finish.
In addition to these tasting notes, I found a few quotes from the charming and talented Hanz that I felt best described his personality and wine making style.
Hanz on Mc Donalds "They have really clean toilets", "Our pigs are happy because they have only one job; to grow", "When you filter, you tear apart his heart, yeast need to survive"
I can't wait to visit Hanz again. In the meantime, you can find his Roter Veltliner by the glass at Primehouse or try some Gruner Veltliner from the list at Blue Water Grill.
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