2016 Gut Oggau Family Reunion Red Lubrication

Gut Oggau describe 2016 as “a vintage to remember” going on to say in greater detail:

“The spring brought heavy frosts. While hailstorms in the summer tested the resilience of our vines. Autumn by contrast was peaceful, forgiving and warm, and in the end delivered amazing qualities of grapes. Growing and living at the whim of nature, we are forced to let go. To let our wines take it all in, and retell the story of the year through their complex characters. In 2016 this has brought a new and unexpected replacement of our wine family. A unique family reunion.”

Instead of making 10 wines, each representing the unique family members of the Oggau clan they made just three wines: Wiess (White), Rose and Rot (Red). Each is blended from the parcel that corresponds with the three generations of family members that would in a normal vintage give thier name to a wine (as the family members get older, the wines get more serious and expensive).

The 2016 Red is a blend of the Atanasius, Joschuari and Bertholdi.

These wines are extremely limited and we have only been allocated 6 of each (only 30 – 60 bottles of each 2016 wine were imported into NZ). Eduard and Stephanie Tscheppe-Eselbock of Gut Oggau describe them thus:

“All three wines are intrinsically tied to a time and a place. Cumulative energy, focused strength and collective finesse. The spirt of youth and the wisdom of maturity united. This unique bottling tells the story of a year in the vineyards. Amidst the beauty of nature, at the behest of the elements. And with every sip the whole year unfolds on your palate.”

Wine writer and lover David Crossley has covered these wines in great detail on his blog:

“Family Reunion Red 2016 is made almost in the same way as the white (a technique they are generally moving towards anyway): a little skin contact but mostly direct pressing, of Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt. There’s a smokiness on the nose, but no less fruitiness to match. Freshness shines through – imagine an English summer pudding with the fruit at its very best.

This is the bit where, to some, I shall go over to the dark side. What I find in these wines is an energy and vibrancy which, in my experience, is the hallmark of careful, studied, but also intuitive biodynamic application in the vineyards, matched beside virtually no intervention in the cellar. The wines make themselves, more or less, and that is the intention. The wines all share another quality – focus. You taste each family member and you recognise them in any vintage. This is the terroir speaking. But in these blends you also see their individual contributions. That’s what makes them so fascinating in 2016, and I found the wines quite inspirational. They confirm Eduard and Stephanie as two of my most revered winemakers.”