The Full Story
Braunstein Oxhoft Chardonnay 2002, 750 ml
from Braunsteinin Neusiedlersee-Hugelland, Burgenland, Austria
(View all wines from Braunstein)
“An elegant nose, not a wooden one. On the palate: a very full mouth but an elegant structure. Not too wide or overloaded. More deeply structured, with fine flavors of pineapples, sweet caramel and minerals. The acidity is integrated and has a bit of spice. This wine makes you want to have another glass as it is so animated. On the finish it has the same notes as in the nose. This is what I am aiming for: that the whole experience comes full circle.
It is also important to me that you not taste the barrels in the wine. One should taste the wine and not the forest. The Oxhoft Chardonnay is fermented in barrels and then aged 1 year in barrique. The barrique is 100% new French oak from 2 different barrel makers. One delivers more body, the other more finesse. If I say I want an oak barrel made from Alee, with medium toasting, it is then completely different depending upon which forest and barrel maker it comes from. Just as the terroir influences the vines, so it influences the trees in a forest. With the cooper (barrel maker) from one place I buy, Seguin Moreau, the taste is always rather big. Big in tannins, and then sweet in development. So if I used just this kind of barrel the wine would become too big. The other barrel, from Berthomieu, comes from Burgundy and creates more elegance and finesse in the wines. Perhaps 5% of the aromas come from this but it?s there and you don’t miss it. In steel tanks I can control everything. In the barrels things have room to change. This special vinification makes for large cellar potential and finesse and mineral aromas, but the minerals also come from the terroir because the Leita mountains have this chalky sand.” -Vintner Birgit Braunstein
Oxhoft is the ancient term for the small oak barrels that were used not only to hold the wine, but also as a means of transporting it to the trading houses and inns in the days of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. This traditional method and term got lost over the years until Birgit Braunstein chose it as the name for her premium red and white wines.
