2020 Helmut Lang Beerenauslese Chardonnay (375ml Half Bottle)

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2020 Helmut Lang Beerenauslese Chardonnay (375ml Half Bottle)
From the 2018 IWC Sweet Winemaker of the Year.


Tasting Notes


 

Full-bodied. Velvety, strong body. Subtle freshness. Ripe composition of pear, apple and honeydew melon. Light buttery tones. A delicately bitter spicy note supports the sweetness very elegantly. Long strong finish.

2020 Helmut Lang Beerenauslese Chardonnay (375ml Half Bottle)

Wine

Helmut's speciality is making great, sweet wines from botyrised frozen grapes. Temperatures of minus 8 degrees Celsius are needed and these are becoming rare meaning the grapes are often not harvested until January.

These black and mouldy grapes manage to produce an amazing, sweet, dessert wine at the hands of Helmut. Think pears, apples and Honeydew. A slight butteriness and a hint of spice.

Producer

The Langs have been cultivating around 18 hectares in Illmitz, the heart of the Seewinkel in the Neusiedler See wine-growing region, for three generations. The microclimate of the Seewinkel and the partially pure sandy soils create the best conditions for viticulture in the region. 

His son, Helmut Jnr, has caught the wine bug too, and now in his mid-20s, is training to take over eventually from his dad. Helmut’s speciality is sweet wines, both from botrytised but also frozen grapes.

In the past, this area of Austria was consistently blessed, year after year, with ideal conditions for the production of sweet wines – both from botrytis-affected and frozen grapes. But times have changed. In recent years the opportunities for Eiswein, which require a minimum nighttime temperature of minus 8 Celcius, have been very rare. Botrytis has become more difficult too: drier conditions increase phenolics and thickness of skins, so these grapes are much less sensitive to the botrytis fungus so vital for the ‘noble’ sweet wines. So paradoxically, harvest dates for these kinds of wine have become later and later.

But somehow Helmut manages to turn out the same great sweet wines year after year, even if quantities are much reduced. It’s astonishing how apparently filthy grapes, still on the vine in January, looking black and very sorry for themselves can transform from ugly duckling to beautiful princess;  perfumed and diaphanous. It is a mystical transformation, but one which Helmut manages with great experience and huge skill. His vineyards are located on the Eastern side of the lake around Illmitz. The vines are immaculately trained and all located in the National Parkland which surrounds the lake.


Specifications

Year 2020
Bottle Size 375ml
Cultivar 100% Chardonnay
Country Austria

Alcohol content

12% alc vol 
Units of Alcohol per Bottle 4.5 units
Type Dessert Wine
Food Matching Pairs perfectly with desserts and cheeses - serve at between 8-10C
Dietary Information
Vegetarian & Vegan 
Allergen Information Contains sulphites
Origin Illmitz
Appellation Burgenland