Claus Preisinger - puszta libre, Burgenland, Austria (2023)

TASTING NOTES

The perfect summer backyard beverage. Mixture of super fresh red and black fruits, liquorice, spices. This is a really smooth, juicy & fruity wine that really needs to be chilled and enjoyed immediately with a bunch of friends.

‘Puszta’ is the Hungarian name for the Pannonian Steppe, a vast plain in Hungary. The fruit is destemmed, a portion of the grapes is carbonically fermented, while the rest are pressed directly, spontaneously fermented and aged in 3000 litre foudres and bottled without filtration.

Despite the modernity of Claus' striking winery, everything is hands-off and inherently natural. Claus’ priority has always been to produce wine that is pure, balanced, and expressive of his terroir.

Claus Preisinger has had winemaking in his blood from the very beginning, starting winemaking as a hobby with his father.

His winery is in the village of Gols, near Lake Neusiedlersee in Burgenland and he has expanded his father's 3 hectare vineyard to 17 hectares. His winemaking philosophy is all about respect for the land and terroir as well as preserving the traditions of Burgenland.

His methods are guided by instinct rather than formula and he is perpetually experimenting and evolving, making wine markedly different in style to the classic interpretations coming out of the region. Claus was one of the first Austrian winemakers to start experimenting with skin contact wines fermented in Georgian amphorae and in 2004 he was one of the founding members of the Pannobile winemakers – a group that values respect for the land and terroir to preserve traditions in Burgenland.