Chardonnay, a popular, versatile and widely grown international white grape variety, is known for a wide range of dry wine styles. But there are also sweet Chardonnay wines: In Burgenland, the variety, due to the fact that Botrytis, is more common there, delivers interesting sweet wines.
The Weinlaubenhof Kracher, world-famous for its sweet wines, not only has excellent Trockenbeerenauslesen (TBA), such as the TBA N ° 4 Nouvelle Vague 2010 made from chardonnay, but also a TBA from a cuvèe of Chardonnay and Welschriesling. However, the Welschriesling variety has nothing in common with the German Riesling and its aroma and is nowhere near as susceptible to botrytis as Riesling or Chardonnay.
We tasted a 2021 Auslese cuvée from Kracher of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Welschriesling. For this wine, only the grapes affected by Botrytis were harvested – in eight consecutive single harvests.
Auslese Cuvée 2021, Weinlaubenhof Kracher (Tasted wines)
Delicate golden yellow. Apricot jam on the nose, round and mild, botrytis. Bready and spicy-herbal notes on the palate, slim, with a good mouthfeel and noticeable but pleasant sweetness. Relatively long finish with notes of herbal hay. Very good wine.
Because the wine didn’t go well with the Kaiserschmarrn with plum roaster, we also tasted a 2020 Red Roses Rosenmuskateller Beerenauslese from Kracher.
Rosenmuskateller, mainly grown in South Tyrol, is rarely found in Austria. A few winemakers have planted the variety, including Gerhard Kracher and Thomas Schwarz (Kloster am Spitz). The variety is almost exclusively produced as a sweet wine. The variety is very sensitive to botrytis due to the thin skin and does not seem to be easy to handle otherwise – winemakers also refer to it as a diva.
We thought Rosenmuskateller’s performance at Kaiserschmarrn was definitely worthy of a diva.
Red Roses Rosenmuskateller Beerenauslese 2020, Weinlaubenhof Kracher (Tasted wines)
Very floral scent, rose, light honey and perfume notes, yellow pome fruit, juicy, fine, dense sweetness paired with balancing, citrus-like acidity, excellent wine with finesse and a long, yellow-fruity finish with citrus.