Wineries
Weiss
in Neusiedlersee, Burgenland, Austria
Manfred Weiss works 27 acres in the National Park Neusiedler Lake Seewinkel, which is in the heart of the Neusiedler Lake region of Burgenland. A unique triumvirate makes this perhaps the worlds most perfect spot for creating stunning dessert wines: first, the proximity of the large Neusiedler Lake for humidity; second, the Pannonian climate with its warm winds and nearly 2000 hours of sunlight; third, the numerous small ponds which surround his vineyards and act like reflectors, intensifying that sunlight onto the grapes and coaxing the fruit to ripen fully.
Manfred plants about 80% with the white varieties Grüner Veltliner, Welschrielsing, Chardonnay, Bouvier and Neuburger. His family has been producing wines for decades but he only began bottling these gems in 1997. In the range of dessert wines he is perhaps most proud of his Grüner Veltliner Icewine. While it is the aforementioned triumvirate which results in an almost guaranteed growth of the noble rot botrytis cinerea, responsible for shrinking and concentrating the grapes just before harvest and imparting the great dessert wines with a tell-tale heady aroma, Manfred likes the Grüner Veltliner grape for its high resistance to the noble rot. So as fall turns to winter and that first freezing night of 19 degrees Fahrenheit hits, the grapes are still mostly "clean" (unaffected by botrytis) and the resulting Icewine is crystal clear in its notes of varietal, while still delivering a punch of late harvest sweetness.
Wines by Weiss
