Wenzel Voodoo Child Wild + Free 2022

Wenzel Voodoo Child Wild + Free 2022

Wenzel
$33.00

Grape: Pinot Gris
Vintage: 2022
Type: Rose

This skin-contact orange wine is a pure varietal expression of Pinot Gris produced under low-intervention guidelines. Michael Wenzel sources the fruit from organically farmed estate vineyards in Rust, where rows grow on complex limestone soils. The winemaking incorporates a traditional extended skin maceration driven by native wild yeasts, extracting deep color from the dark-hued skins. The liquid matures entirely in neutral vessels and is bottled with minimal sulfur additions and without filtering.

It glows with a deep, dark pink color with amber highlights, presenting closer to a light red wine. The nose opens with intense aromatics of orange blossom, fresh citrus peel, and wild herbs. On the palate, the brief skin contact provides a beautifully chalky textured mouthfeel across a medium body. Fleshy flavors of ripe peach and red currant interweave with a sharp wave of natural acidity. It concludes bone-dry, clean, and well-structured.

Wenzel is Michael Wenzel's family estate in Rust, on the western shore of Lake Neusiedl in Burgenland, where the family has been making wine for centuries. The domaine is especially important for its role in reviving Furmint in Austria: Michael's father Robert brought historic plant material back from Hungary in the 1980s, when the variety had nearly disappeared from Rust. Today Wenzel farms organically and works with Furmint, Blaufrankisch, Pinot Noir and other varieties in limestone, gneiss and quartz-influenced sites. The wines are spontaneous, minimally handled and quietly radical, linking Burgenland's present to a nearly lost Danube tradition.