Austria 2023 Vintage Case

With delicate aromas of orange blossom and quince, this is a fine example of the crisp, dry style of riesling Austria does so well. Perfect on its own, with seafood, creamy dishes or, naturally, schnitzel. Weingut Wess is a small family-owned winery in the beautiful town of Krems in Lower Austria. Riesling is a passion for talented young winemaker Christina Wess and this exclusive wine is blended from a selection of vineyards across the Kremstal region.

Succulent pear and white-pepper aromas, followed by nectarine flavours and a refreshing spritz on the palate. Textbook Austrian grüner from the historic Stadt Krems winery.

Vibrant and charming minimal-intervention grüner which is a generous expression of the grape from a well balanced and highly regarded vintage. Peach, pear, lemon zest and apple-crumble notes on the nose give way to a zesty, generous palate with fine, fresh acidity providing great focus and structure. The Maier family pay close attention to the land, working biodynamically and keeping pigs, cattle and bees, with their goal to not only make great wines but to also take care of their ecosystem. This wholesome approach is evident in the wine, which is not constrained by rigid wine-making but is instead given the time it needs in the cellar to ferment naturally, seemingly adding to the opulence and complexity that the wine offers. Drink 2024 to 2027.

Elegant, crystalline pinot blanc from one of Austria's most committed biodynamic winemakers. This variety has a long history in the region and this is a fine example, with notes of lemon, pear and flint. Dry, crisp and delicious.

This riesling comes from vineyards around the town of Loiben in the Eastern end of the Wachau Valley. The warmer climate in the area means this is a succulent, juicy and fruit driven wine, while the rocky gneiss soils bring a tension and minerality. The Wachau is perhaps the most famous fine wine region of Austria and, much like in Burgundy, the vineyards are fragmented, with lots of little parcels of vines owned by a large number of different producers. Domäne Wachau is a highly quality-conscious cooperative in the region, who's grapes come from a large number of family growers, who own parcels of land but perhaps don't have the facilities to make their own wine or, because the cooperative have a great reputation for quality and looking after their growers, many just prefer to sell to them rather than produce for themselves!

Never had Jurtschistch experienced a hailstorm in September before. The 2023 vintage was superb but an area of Alwin and Stefanie's vineyard was hit by a brief but severe hailstorm just before harvest. They had to act within hours to salvage the fruit before rot set in. The quality of fruit, though picked earlier than planned, was too good to totally surrender to Mother Nature. The resulting wine is a particularly finessed, fresh and focused grüner veltliner, with prettiness and lifted fruit, a chance to taste wine from some of Jurtschitsch's most premium sites but in a lighter expression. Alwin says that, stylistically, this is similar to the wines his grandfather would have made, which were lighter than they are today. Taking its name from a poem by Siegfried Sassoon, Storm & Sunlight is a total one-off, made thanks to a freak weather incident. It is exclusive to us in the UK and labelled especially, as an ode to the styles of wine Alwin's grandfather would have made.