Frankish wine is to ripen on the zugspitze
Experimental and innovative is the group of winegrowers "the french" started the new year. Because the french winegrowers are celebrating "100 years of muller-thurgau in franken" this year to celebrate, the group came up with something very special.
Last fall, they brought a top wine of the muller-thurgau variety into their cellars. This wine will be released on 20. Marz in a wooden barrel made of french oak on a journey to the mountains. On germany’s highest mountain, the zugspitze, the wine should ripen. The idea was born – how could it be otherwise – while skiing.
When the barrel was filled on thursday at the moblein winery in zeilitzheim, franconia’s wine queen melanie dietrich was thrilled: "when the wine barrel arrives at the zugspitze, it means pure fascination for me". The barrel with the noble french content will spend 100 days at 2,962 meters above sea level. There, the grape juice with 95 degrees oechsle is to experience a special maturing process before it is brought back home again.
The spokesman for the winegrowers’ association, martin moblein, recalled that with the "zugspitzenwein" they had found a reliable partner for the project breaking new ground. The winegrowers are not yet quite sure what will happen to the wine in this high season. "On the occasion of the anniversary, we wanted to try something completely new with the muller-thurgau variety", he explained. "For the jubilee, we harvested fully ripe grapes last year and thus created the basis for a top-class wine."
Fugitive flavors
the enjoyment of wine at a height of 3,000 meters is different from that in the wine-growing region of franconia at an altitude of about 200 meters. The fluency of the aromatic substances is completely different, the entire taste picture is different. "It stands to reason that the wine will also behave differently when it matures. The air pressure will certainly have a major influence on the ripening process", said moblein. His assumption: the self-clarification of the wine and its further development will take place much more slowly. The decomposition of the yeast will be a different one.
In the wine cellar of his winery, parallel to the "zugspitze wine" is being made a barrique barrel with the same muller-thurgau will remain for the sensory comparison.
Winegrowers’ president artur steinmann called the winemakers’ association’s advance a great idea. "Muller thurgau comes out of the trough and gets horizon", according to steinmann.
When on 20. March, when the barrel of muller-thurgau is brought up the mountain on the zugspitzbahn, wine queen melanie wants to be there, too. With the bavarian zugspitzbahn, the winegrowers from "der franke" have a reliable partner found for the implementation of the project. "I am curious to see what awaits us later and how the wine develops in this high", said the wine sovereign.