BORA TIER
CHRISTINA ROSE
Region: Burgenland, Austria
Varietal: Zweigelt
I grew up with my sister at the mixed family-run farm of my parents and grandparents, cultivating different grains, corn, sugar beets, breeding pigs, and growing some vines. Giving a helping hand almost everywhere on the farm, I fell in love with the wine production very early. I loved being in the vineyards, helping in the cellar, and telling our customers the stories behind the wines. So, it was absolutely sure for me: I am getting a vintner! From a child’s age, I was used to sourcing our food directly from our farm or the neighborhood. My parents later focused only on the wine growing and built up the winery to the 28 ha we now have.
Growing up in the very “classic” wine scene, I learned everything about wine production from my father by helping in the vineyards and the cellar. As I was fascinated by all the microbiological processes behind the scenes, I decided to gain more knowledge by studying oenology and wine management.
During studies, I finished my internship at an importer in London where I got to know sooo many different wines and styles from all over the world, which I didn‘t know before. I was fascinated by the diversity of the big wine world and was mainly impressed by organic produced wines from small producers all over the world. Being a very creative person, I really focused on finding the typical style of our very unique wine-growing region Carnuntum for our wines, when I started to work in the winery with my parents in 2007. During this time soil conditions, micro-climates and natural conditions in the vineyards got more and more important to me and my husband. So we decided to change to organic production in 2013 - also being influenced by raising our two daughters! We did a soft change to finally 100% organic vineyard management and organic production in the cellar 3 years later. We made the change just because of our attitude and never thought about getting certified, but now we want to prove all this work and effort and therefore started the certification process with the vintage 2018.
About the wine-
The Pannonian climate with the cool winds of the River Danube brings a very ripe, but also fresh cherry-fruit to the Zweigelt grapes resulting in wines with aromatic fruit, smooth tannins, and no shortage of elegance.
rapes are hand-harvested and direct pressed to stainless steel tanks, with just a few hours of contact with the skins to provide color. Fermentation takes place under temperature control and lasts about two weeks. The wine rests for another 4 weeks and then is racked once, then rests on the lees for another 8 weeks. The wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered, with a small addition of sulfur.
This is lip-smackingly tasty! Every berry is present in this light, succulent rosé that you’ll want to drink the whole spring and summer
Pair with- Cantaloupe & prosciutto, smoked trout tinned fish, light veggie dishes
Cantina Marilina Sikele Rosso
Region: Sicily, Italy
Varietal: Nero d’Avola
Angelo Paternò worked for 25 years as the winemaker and technical director for the Sicilian wineries Cantine Settesoli and then Duca di Salaparuta and then bought 60 hectares (148 acres) on a hill formerly known as Poggio dei Fossi in the southeastern Sicilian province of Siracusa, near the town of Pachino, where he thought the land was one of the best viticulture areas in Sicily.
He handed the reins over to his daughters, Marilina and Federica, and still helps them in the cellar. They grow organically and favor strict minimal intervention and additives in the cellar, with an approach influenced by local natural winemaking master Frank Cornelissen. Almost half of the land is dedicated to polyculture in order to nurture the ecosystem. On the other 35 hectares grow an array of grape varieties such as Nero d’Avola, Grecanico, Muscat Blanc, Moscato Giallo, Insolia, Merlot, Tannat, Viognier, and Chardonnay. In the cellar, fruit and freshness are preserved with the use of large concrete tanks for fermentation.
Lean and elegant, but still bold enough for you Cabernet drinkers. This dark and perfumey Nero D'Avola is sustainably produced and aged in concrete tanks.
Dark cherry, black pepper, tobacco, herbal spice
Pair with: A cheeseburger, gyros, grilled Italian sausage and peppers
LE MISTRAL TIER
Dusted Valley Mataro
Region: Walla Walla Valley, Washington
Varietal: Mourvedre
Dusted Valley represents our family’s quest to fulfill a dream of crafting world-class wine in Washington State. In 2003, we set out on a hunt for the best fruit and estate vineyards in the Walla Walla Valley and ended up finding that and much more. Here, the sun drenches the valley and the moon shines over the Blue Mountains. The local produce and restaurant scene is fantastic and the wines are among the best in the world. Life does not revolve around rush hour traffic and corporate deadlines, but rather the expansive vineyards and farmlands that link us with our agricultural roots, connect us to our neighbors, and surround us every day.
Here, there is a spirit of camaraderie and community. Neighbors work together towards common goals and interests, and founding fathers mentor the next generation of Washington wine stars. This is Walla Walla. It’s where we grow our grapes, make our wines, raise our families and where we are proud to call home.
This wine is a wonderful collaboration born from beautiful fruit & opportunity from one of our 2022 harvest interns, Leo Braddock. Grapes were lightly foot tread, before seeing three days of carbonic maceration and finishing with whole cluster fermentation. Native yeast, spontaneous fermentation with minimal SO2 added. This created a bright, light, fruit-forward, chill-worthy, and beautiful wine. The 2022 Mataro sees high-tone notes of raspberry, pomegranate, blueberry, and star anise, with wonderful tension between acid and roundness. Racked once into neutral oak. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Pair with: Salty popcorn, braised beef tacos
Enderle and Moll Muller Trocken Reisling
Region: Baden, Germany
Varietal: Muller-Thurgau
This estate is really just two guys, a tiny cellar, a few hectares of old vines and a hell of a lot of buzz – even Jancis Robinson has called them “cult.” What you can say with certainty is that Florian Moll, along with his partner Géraldine, Manfred Enderle and Frenchman Maxence Lecat, fly in the face of just about every conventional estate in Baden. Farming some of the oldest vines in Baden the team crafts complex, earthy and superbly detailed Pinot Noirs that will completely redefine how you view German reds, to say nothing of their stunningly textural yet buoyant and defined skin-contact white wines. They are one of the first German red wine producers to emphasize lightness, transparency, finesse. They are the benchmark producer for natural, Burgundy-esque German Pinot Noir, period, end. The white wines, though a small part of their production, are revelations in skin-contact whites; transparent and energetic. Farming is organic/biodynamic, no additives, no filters, minimal sulfur.
'Müller' has the rare distinction of being comprised not only of estate fruit from Baden — 45-year-old vines of Müller Thurgau planted on limestone — but also fruit from a respected organic grower in the Mosel planted on schist. Undoubtedly this accounts for the wine’s extra blast of energy and high-toned kick. The fruit is macerated for 5 days on the skins before a soft pressing into stainless steel for an 8-9 month evelage on the lees. Lightly filtered and contains a tiny amount of sulfur added only at bottling. Notes of apple, stone fruit, and pear.
Pair with: Mushroom tart, rotisserie chicken
Chimiltito Pais Tinto
Region: Ninhue, Chile
Varietal: Pais
Macarena del Río and Thomas Parayre founded their joint project Macatho in 2016 after meeting while working harvest with Louis-Antoine Luyt. Based in Chillán, they currently farm old-vine parcels of land organically in Maule, Bío-Bío and Itata. Macatho organically works and farms 3ha of old-vine parcels in the Maule, Itata, and BíoBío valleys in southern Chile. The entire country has cooling Pacific coastal influences, along with abundant sunshine and dry conditions due to the Andes to the east, all of which make organic farming much easier for Chilean growers. In the cellar, all work is done manually and by gravity.
From the ancient (roughly 200-year-old) Chimiltito vineyard of own-rooted vines. The soils are alluvial loam on sedimentary bedrock at 110m altitude, about 45 km from the Pacific.
The grapes are harvested by hand, then destemmed and fermented with indigenous yeasts in a stainless steel tank with about 22 days of maceration on the skins. Bottled without fining, filtration, or sulfite addition.
Pair with- Spanish tapas, grilled veggies
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