Austria Flashcards
What is typical winemaking for white wines?
The aim is to preserve the primary fruit and varietal characteristics.
Many producers use a short period of skin contact to maximise aromas and flavours.
Wine is fermented in a neutral vessel.
Temperature control to prevent the loss of delicate, volatile aromas is common.
Grüner and Riesling typically don’t go through MLC, partly because the low pH would make it hard to achieve, and partly through the desire to retain the varietal character and fresh acidity.
For the same reasons, wines are stored in old wood or steel.
Many producers leave on the lees for a minimum of 6 months to add texture.
Most whites are fermented to dryness.
What is typical winemaking for red wines?
Typically fermented in large open-top vessels, with either punch downs or pump overs.
Some producers use ambient yeasts.
Wines are either stored in steel or matured in old oak, often 300-600 L or larger, to help soften tannins without extracting new oak flavours.
A few premium wines are aged in barriques with a proportion of new oak.
What unique type of barrel can be used? For which style?
Some producers choose acacia vats over oak for maturation for both red and white, as it gives a small amount of oxygenation without the vanilla characters of oak.
What styles are being experimented with?
As in other countries, prolonged skin contact or fermentation and ageing in amphorae.
