Werlitsch 'Freude' 2021 Skin Contact Sauvignon Blanc - Chardonnay Styria, Austria

750ml bottle

12.5% abv

Layered aromas of orchard fruit, citrus peel, and wild herbs over a stony, honeyed base. The palate is dry, textural, and gently tannic, with vivid acidity and notes of peach, pear skin, and spice. It finishes long and mineral, balancing richness and grip with remarkable freshness.

A biodynamic blend of roughly 70% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Morillon (Chardonnay) from limestone-marl (opok) soils in southern Styria. Three weeks of skin maceration with native yeasts before whole-cluster press into large neutral oak for two years aging on fine lees. Bottled unfined, unfiltered, and without added sulfur, in keeping with Werlitsch’s low-intervention philosophy.

There are two skin-contact wines from Werlitsch in clay bottles, Glück & Freude, the main difference being that Freude is whole-cluster macerated, while Glück is destemmed. 

In a time when natural wines are produced almost everywhere, its all too easy to forget how the revival of this ancient winemaking technique and rise to popularity came about: first there were a few visionaries along the Italy Slovenia border (Gravner in 1997), a few more in the Loire (Joly) and, yes, another few in Austria's Styria, the wine region bordering Slovenia and one that is known for Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, the latter being called Morillon locally.

One such pioneering soul was Ewald Tscheppe. When Ewald started experimenting with skin fermentation, keeping his wines on the lees for many years and with reducing sulfur to a bare minimum, and then skipping it altogether, his ideas seem rather out there.

Ewald works 8 hectares of steep and rolling hills surrounding his winery. His system is simple: he divides his vineyards into three categories, with the vines from the bottom of the hill going into the Ex Vero I cuvee, the vines on the slopes going into Ex Vero II, and the steepest and therefore most austere parts of the vineyard are reserved for Ex Vero III.

Ewald follows Demeter principles of biodynamic farming. Having a lively and healthy balance between insects, microcosms in the soils and plants, create the kind of balance that is crucial to produce grapes of the highest quality, 

The Werlitsch winery sits at bottom of steep vineyards that surround the winery like an amphitheater. Rolling hills provide the most austere soils and strongest winds close to the ridge, while deeper and more fertile soils can be found at the bottom, near the winery. Owner Ewald Tscheppe decided to make Ex Vero III from those highest elevations and the more fertile soils would produce Ex Vero I, leaving the middle part of the hill to the Ex Vero II. The vines grow on marl known locally as Opok. Ewald's wines are expressive and fascinating cuvées of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc (most of the time, anyway). High acidity from early harvest is tamed with extended time on the fine lees in used oak barrels of various origins. Ewald's skin-fermented wines, the Freude (joy) and Glück (good fortune) are bottled in clay and will have fermented on their skins anywhere from a week to a full year.