Ried Spitzerberg – Kranzen 1ÖTW

Learn More About This Wine

The sub-vineyard Kranzen (3.4 hectares) is situated on the mid-slope of the Spitzerberg, at an altitude between 190 and 230 meters. The higher part of the Spitzerberg is steep, and very dry with sandy and rocky limestone. The lower part is more flat with alluvial soil. Here at this altitude, the soil is darker and can conserve a bit more humidity and it contains less limestone. 

On Kranzen, Dorli Muhr works on a vineyard of about 0.3 hectares that was planted in 1950. Kranzen tends to produce dark aromatic wines that show a more robust and fullbodied character than other sites on the Spitzerberg. 

The grapes are picked by hand, and fermented with wild yeasts in open boxes, at ambient temperatures. The winery works by foot stomping the grapes and no mechanical tools. The extraction is very slow and soft. After pressing, the wine matures for 20 months in large used casks and is bottled without filtration. 

2021 is a wonderful, full bodied vintage, very dense yet fresh. 

Spring was long and dry, and mostly quite cool so that the bud break was rather late – an advantage regarding late frosts. Summer showed some smaller rainfalls now and then, and showed some cooler weeks as well. This led to a very balanced, regular maturation without any stress. In autumn, there were long sunny and dry weeks which brought wonderfully mature and aromatically intense grapes.