Blaufränkisch vines of eight to fifty years. Fermented in stainless steel and neutral oak fermenters; aged for 12 months in large format, neutral oak and stainless steel. The following review is from the previous vintage, but we feel it's right on the money. Roland's "entry-level" bottling has never been better.
94pts, Wine Spectator: "This is Roland Velich’s basic Blaufränkisch, and, at the moment, his most perfectly rendered. A blend of fruit from vines of 8-50 years old in a range of soils across his vineyards in Lutzmannsburg. It’s vinified with ambient yeasts in large-format barrels, essentially giving a wide-angle view of Mittelburgenland. There’s a sense of the sunny warmth of the region in the wine’s ripe blackberry flavors, as well as of the region’s forested hills in its fir-tree details; then it ends with a sense of a refreshing breeze as the acidity sweeps the fruit along. It’s firm yet filigreed, with a granite-like coolness that emanates energy, and should keep the wine fresh over the next decade."
