Michael Wenzel SAZ 2004 (Ruster Ausbruch)

This dessert wine is made of Furmint and Muscat grapes (in German called Gelber Muskateller), and in some way it may recall Hungarian sweet wines from Tokaji region, although here the winemaking style is similar to the grand wines of Germany or Sauternes.

The grapes for this wine were harvested over several days in mid-November 2004, manually separating only those grapes affected by fungus and those that looked like raisins. It took several passes through the vineyards over 10 days to collect only the grapes suitable for this wine. The grapes are trodden, left to macerate for about 15 hours and then pressed in a manual press. Thirty litres of must were obtained from every 100 kilos of trodden grapes. It ferments slowly for six months in new barrels, followed by 12 months of ageing, also in barrels, until it is bottled in May 2006.

A total of 2,000 375 ml bottles were produced.

This wine is a sweet elixir but with an overwhelming acidity. A liquid gem for lovers of sweet wines!

Tech details for wine geeks: alcohol 8.9º, residual sugar 285 g/l, acidity 9.1 g/l.