Felsen I rot 2015 - Christian Tschida (vin nature)

Felsen I is a textbook example of a pure natural wine from Christian Tschida. Pure, honest, clean, complex and elegant. No excessive (new) wood maturation, only support and letting the wine come to rest. White pepper, ripe cherry and a stony minerality. The wine has been in barrels for 3 years and is Blaufränkisch in its purest form without technical tinkering.

Country / Region: Austria / Neusiedlersee (Burgenland)
Grape variety: Blaufränkisch
In the vineyard: Grapes harvested by hand. Limestone, slate and gravel subsoil. Vineyards between 115-240 meters altitude. Biodynamic farming.
In the cellar: Grapes lightly crushed with the feet, slow, spontaneous fermentation. Free-run 'pressing'. 3 years maturation in old wooden barrels. Unfiltered. Without addition of sulphites
Quality mark: Biodynamic and Vin Nature

Christian Tschida is one of the biggest rock stars in Vin Nature at the moment. Restaurant Noma in Copenhagen has been serving Tschida wines in its wine pairings for years. Even now with the huge increase in high-end restaurants and the increasing supply of high-quality natural wines, Tschida remains number one. Because many natural wine lovers see Christian Tschida as a kind of demigod, his cult status is only growing. Even sommeliers in Austria have to make an effort for his wines.

The most remarkable thing about Tschida is that he uses 30% of the 'free run'. This gives his wines a particularly elegant character, very pure and sometimes even light.

The Tschida family has been making wine in Illmitz (Neusiedlersee) since the 19th century and Christian still works some of these old family vineyards. When Christian took over the family estate in 2003, many former customers found his way of making wine ridiculous. Low in alcohol and too high in minerality and juiciness. Fortunately, his wine was selected by a large local bank, who served it at their stylish business lunches. Funny enough, only because they didn't want the executives to get drunk. Funny or not, Tschida is now part of the canon of vin nature, not only in Austria, but throughout the Western Hemisphere.