Rotes Haus Gets Naked

The "Rotes Haus"

Having recently become a Naked Angel, I was keen to have a chat with Gerhard Lobner at the recent Annual Tasting of Austrian Wines in London about his Rotes Haus wines, sold exclusively through Naked Wines in the UK.

The Rotes Haus vineyards are located in the 17th and 19th districts of Vienna - just round the corner from where I used to live and with a view over the city.

The first wine we tried was a Gemischter Satz; otherwise known as a mixture of odds and sods, the grapes for this wine not only all come from same vineyard, but are also picked and fermented together, all at different stages of ripeness.

With mostly Grüner Veltliner (but also a further 12 varieties) in the mix, the end result was a crisp and balanced wine with some aromatic notes and a richness on the finish due to around 4% traminer.

Gerhard explained that the subtlety and harmoniousness of the flavours is much better achieved through fermenting the grapes together than through blending separate finished wines - even if it means that the end result is effectively decided at the moment the decision to pick the grapes is taken.

This wine was picked as the winner of the European Wine Bloggers' Conference in Vienna last year and bought up by Naked Wines for exclusive sale in the UK.

Refreshing and crisply aromatic with some Old-World restraint, it is right on the zeigeist for mid-level whites in the UK at the moment. If you've done oaky Aussie Chardonnay, had enough of ripe NZ Sauvignon and are now looking for an alternative to Pinot Grigio, this could be just the thing.

The second wine was Gerhard's Grüner Veltliner which Naked snapped up straight away after tasting - again for exclusive sale in the UK. And I can see why - it is a more interesting wine than the Gemischter Satz, shows plenty of typical GV aromas of lentils, celery and white pepper and has good structure.

The final wine Gerhard showed me was a Riesling from Ried Alsegg under his Mayer am Pfarrplatz label which is currently not distributed in the UK - the Mayer wines are from different vineyards to the Rotes Haus and are in general lighter in style.

The Wines

Rotes Haus Gemischter Satz, 2009, 12.5%
Rotes Haus Gruener Veltliner, 2009, 13%

Mayer am Pfarrplatz, Riesling Ried Alsegg, 2009, 13%

Links

Rotes Haus - http://www.weingut.rotes-haus.at/

Mayer am Pfarrplatz - http://www.pfarrplatz.at/

Naked Wines - https://www.nakedwines.com/