Lichtenberger Gonzalez Rotburger 2023

Lichtenberger Gonzalez Rotburger 2023

Lichtenberger-Gonzalez
$20.00

Grape: Rotburger
Vintage: 2023
Type: Red

This red wine is a pure varietal expression of rotburger produced by the minimalist husband-and-wife winemaking team of Martin and Ariana Lichtenberger-Gonzalez. The fruit is grown on dry-farmed terraces in the Leithaberg Mountains, where vines dig deep into pure limestone soils. The winemaking follows strict low-intervention protocols, featuring a completely spontaneous fermentation driven by native wild yeasts in neutral wooden casks. True to their patient cellar philosophy, the wine matures naturally without any new oak barrels.

It displays a bright ruby hue, releasing clear aromatics of tart red cherry, dark plum, and field flowers over a background of stone. A light-to-medium body is remarkably fluid and precise, balancing fresh red berry fruit with a soft, chalky mineral undercurrent. Taut, fine-grained tannins provide a subtle structural grip across the mid-palate volume without feeling heavy. A clean wave of natural acidity runs through the center, maintaining great freshness. It concludes bone-dry.

It was at an internship at a California winery that Martin Lichtenberger met the love of his life Ariana Gonzalez, a Spanish winemaker. Once back in Austria the two further honed their craft by making wines for Gernot Heinrich and Rosi Schuster, while slowly but surely developing their own vision for what was to become the new incarnation of Martin's parents' winery: Lichtenberger-Gonzalez.

With this much background in winemaking on both sides it was clear that the wines could only be made a certain way, one that would go back to the roots of winemaking where quality is produced by hand and without the use of technology. Everything they needed to make great wines had long been invented and the other ingredients needed, namely old vines, interesting terroir in the form of limestone were available to them at the Leithaberg mountains of the Burgenland region where Martin had grown up.

" Please don’t expect us to be on the same page as the rest when it comes to taste. The opposite is the case. We tend to take the long road and make our wines slowly and patiently by hand: the way wine has always been made. Spontaneous fermentation, in wooden barrels, a long time on the lees and minimal intervention. After all, nature knows best what it needs and doesn’t require any certificates to be itself. Just like us ;-)"