Gassner Amber Grüner Veltliner 40 Monate 2019
Gassner Amber Grüner Veltliner 40 Monate 2019
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Gassner Amber Grüner Veltliner 40 Monate 2019

Gassner
$60.00

Grape: Grüner Veltliner
Vintage: 2019
Type: Orange

Sourced from sustainably managed old vines in the Weinviertel, this extended skin-contact bottling represents an extreme, low-intervention exercise in patient winemaking. Hand-harvested at optimal ripeness, the whole berries undergo a long, spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts on the skins, where the wine remains in contact with the grape skins and fine lees for 40 full months (40 Monate). Aging takes place in neutral wooden casks without temperature control, fining, filtration, or added sulfur, allowing slow micro-oxygenation to transform the variety's primary fruit into a stable, complex amber liquid. Bottled in its rawest state, this is a profound, deeply structured skin-contact white built on raw phenolic depth and earth.

A deep amber-copper hue in the glass gives way to layered aromas of dried orange peel, bruised apple, black tea, dried marigold, and toasted walnut. The palate is dry, broad, and firmly structured, delivering intense flavors of dried apricot, salt-cured citrus, chamomile, and ground white pepper framed by a noticeable, tea-like tannic grip. High, persistent natural acidity cuts directly through the wine's rich, oxidative weight, providing remarkable vertical structure and energetic drive. It finishes long, savory, and bone-dry, concluding with lingering notes of bitter orange pith, dried herbs, and crushed stone.

Winery

Robert and Marianne Gassner revived their family’s winemaking tradition in 2007 in Rust, on the western side of Lake Neusiedl in Austria’s Burgenland. At first, the wines were shared only with family and friends; a small commercial release followed in 2015. Their old vines grow on the Rusterberg, where weathered soils over slate and granite contain quartz and other mineral deposits. The estate’s small scale makes close, hands-on vineyard work central to its identity.

Biodynamic preparations, herbal treatments and careful attention to soil life guide the farming, which is carried out by hand. Grapes are harvested and selected manually, ferment with native yeasts, and mature in large used Austrian barrels or clay amphorae. Sulfur use is limited. Grüner Veltliner, Furmint and Blaufränkisch provide different expressions of the vineyards, while the Amber Grüner Veltliner explores skin contact and extended aging. The wines connect a renewed family tradition with an approach that values patience, healthy soils and a direct relationship between the growers and their land.