Wachter Wiesler Wachter Wiesler Eisenberg Blaufränkisch 2021 750ml

The darkest forest berries and the best licorice meet in this deep, rooty blaufrankisch that is spectacularly concentrated and highly-structured, yet very refined. So much wet-stone freshness and vitality that you feel like wallowing in them. Electric finish that feels like it could wake the dead! From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.

What a stunning blaufrankisch, deftly welding the coolness of this appellation with the abundant forest-berry fruit and floral beauty that make its finest wines so irresistible. The supersilky tannins and incredibly subtle minerality suck you even further inward. Magnificently focused and precise in the brilliant finish. Drink or hold.

Christoph Wachter blends this wine from three vineyards—Saybritz, Humengraben and Fasching—all planted in the green schist of the Eisenberg. That primary rock gives the wine a rustic power, Südburgenland-unforgiving, concentrated in its flavors of wild blueberries, tar and spruce sap. That high-elevation, evergreen freshness cools and brightens the fruit, its tannic tension needing days to fan out and show gentler, buffed edges, even as those dynamic tannins keep rolling along.

A pure, elegant style, with vibrant violet, plum and cassis notes laced with loamy earht and bay leaf hints, which stretch from start to finish. There is a lovely mix of well-integrated tannins and ripe acidity which keep this balanced and fresh and give it persistence. There is an inviting spice note that echoes on the finish. (Aleks Zecevic)