Amour Fou 2018

The hand-picked grapes for the Amour Fou come from a vineyard in Langenlois, the Loiserberg. In search of the variety of flavours of the grape variety, combined with the idea of exploring the potential of Grüner Veltliner, we fermented the ripe but not overripe berries on the mash, partly in wooden barrels and partly in a ceramic egg.

In 2018, we experienced one of the longest summers in recent weather history, with temperatures reaching 30°C as early as April. The high temperatures and increasing dryness shaped the year, but there were no major incidents like frost or hail. Despite the challenges, we were rewarded with excellent quality and good grape yields. The winter started normally with rain and snow, but it became very cold at the end of February, which delayed the bud break. In April, the second warmest in 251 years, the vines began flowering by mid-May – nearly three weeks earlier than usual. On August 16th, we began harvesting the first grapes to create the base for sparkling wines. The high temperatures led us to harvest in the early mornings and transport the grapes in small crates. After three days of rain in early September, the harvest was paused to wait for the flavor of the berries to return. We carefully selected only the best grapes to enter the cellar. Perfect harvesting conditions with cool nights followed, which enhanced the aromatic profile of our Erste Lagen wines. We finished harvesting the Grüner Veltliner by the end of September, while the Riesling grapes at Heiligenstein ripened for another week. The last ten days of harvest were dedicated to the noble rot grapes for our sweet wines.

The hand-picked grapes for the Amour Fou come from a vineyard in Langenlois, the Loiserberg. In search of the variety of flavours of the grape variety, combined with the idea of exploring the potential of Grüner Veltliner, we fermented the ripe but not overripe berries on the mash, partly in wooden barrels and partly in a ceramic egg. Every day we tasted until the optimum of complexity, aroma and depth was reached. After two weeks we decided to separate the wine from the mash and to store it on the yeast for 18 months. We do not want to overload our natural wines with tannins, but rather tell a story of their variety, the elegant Kamptal fruit and its origin. Fermentation with berries has created a timeless Grüner Veltliner with tension and structure on the palate. An idea, a thought, in search of the diversity of taste in wine.

The Jurtschitsch winery, situated in Langenlois, is one of the most prestigious wineries in Austria which impeccably displays Austrian wine culture at its best. Alwin and Stefanie Jurtschitsch having been leading the family estate for some time now and have managed to reinterpret premium wine in their own way. For the two of them this means vinifying authentic, complex and terroir-specific wines with cool, elegant stylistics - in other words, permitting the different appellations in Langenlois to express themselves individually.