Stagard 'Handwerk' Gruner Veltliner

Urban and Dominique Stagard took over the family estate in 2006, and quickly set to focusing on realizing the potential that they believe the land and the grapes contain. They only make wines from riesling and gruner veltliner, and they make a point to use minimal sulfur inclusion and native yeast fermentation. Further, they are big believers in maceration and lees aging. 

Their 'Handwerk' gruner veltliner is a perfect example of their ethos. All the fruit here is coming from chosen south facing vineyards in the Pfaffenberg, from two lieux-dits called Danzern and Pitschental. The fruit sees a 24hr maceration, followed by 9 months where 2% of the grapes remain whole berries, and 10% of the fruit spends 8-10months in neutral oak. All of this leads to an intense, herbaceous, and lively bottle of gruner veltliner. Yellow pear and pineapple fruit, with interesting notes of wormwood, trademark gruner veltliner white pepper, and meadow flowers.