So with it being the month of May, spring will eventually come to an end and when the summer heat eventually takes charge, hiking won't be that enjoyable. So with that in mind and Tement having recently released their 2021 single vineyard expressions, I packed my backpack and took the train to Spielfeld in the Südsteiermark.
After walking for around an hour, I arrived at the winery and then tasted myself through their current offerings. I tried a lot of wines, so I'll just mention the ones, which impressed me the most. Nevertheless, it needs to be said that all of their wines are of excellent quality and you can really see their philosophy shine through in all of them.
The 2021 Rossberg Morillon (Chardonnay) shows great finesse and elegance, despite the 14% ABV of this release. Notes of primary fruit, herbal spice and mineralty come through at large. Afterwards I had the Grassnitzberg and Sulz Kriewitz Morillon. Both are still of the 2020 vintage, as they hold them back for a bit longer. The Grassnitzberg is a very cool vineyard and this definitely shows here quite well, tart fruit and mineralty play an important role in this wine. Compared to that, Sulz is a much warmer site and the wine shows riper notes. The Zieregg is their Morillon flagship and the only wine, where they use some new oak (10%). This gives the wine more spicy aromatics, for me the Zieregg also shows a pronounced character from ageing on the lees.
Sauvignon Blanc is what made this winery famous, so I need to talk about it as well. The Grassnitzberg Sauvignon Blanc shows the same coolness as their Morillon; herbs, crushed stones and tart fruits come through here. Concerning their Zieregg SB, there won't be a 2021 Zieregg soon, as they decided to give them some more ageing before being released. The 2020 Zieregg I had was very good, but this special 2015 release that they are offering right now is simply fantastic and among the best whites I hade until now. It's extremely perfumed, showing notes of lime, tart peach, crushed stones, flint and herbs. Another wine that needs to be mentioned is their Ottenberg Welschriesling.
by an_empty_sad_bottle
1 Comment
The American mind cannot comprehend this.
In all seriousness, this sounds like a fantastic visit at a lovely time of year! Tement’s wines absolutely are world-class throughout the portfolio. Wish I could find them more easily here in the US.