Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The extremely expressive hazelnut and flinty character and the creaminess of the medium- to full-bodied palate make this a must for chardonnay fans. Great underplayed power and a wide array of candied citrus fruits. Then comes the gentle chalkiness in the very long, stony finish. Fermented and matured in barriques on the full lees for a year. Drink or hold.
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Vinous
The 2022 Chardonnay Ried Katterstein is from a site that rises up to 300 meters, close to the forest with great water availability and a mix of Leitha limestone and mica schist. The nose has a lovely sense of golden Mirabelle in the distance. Yeast, lemon and corn scents make up the foreground. The palate is beautifully lithe, bright, superbly fresh and pristine, with lip-smacking freshness at the end and a long echo of that lovely, gentle, bright yeasty texture. It is really elegant and precise.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
The source of Austria’s finest botrytized sweet wines, Burgenland covers a lofty portion of Austria's wine producing real estate. It encompasses the smaller regions of Neusiedlersee, Neusiedlersee-Hügelland, Mittelburgenland and Südburgenland. The latter two are most associated with their exceptional red wines. The region as a whole produces no shortage of important whites.
Neusiedlersee, named for the lake that it surrounds to the east, is home to a great diversity of grape varieties. The region’s most notable wines, however, are the botrytis-infected, sweet versions.
Neusiedlersee-Hügelland, which wraps the lake on its western side, includes the town of Rust, a historically esteemed wine community. Its close proximity to the lake’s fog and mist make it another source of some of the more prestigious botrytized wines. Neusiedlersee-Hügelland also produces fine Blaufränkisch, Pinot Blanc, Neuburger and Grüner Veltliner, though a label will usually name the more general, Burgenland, so as not to confuse it with its eastern cousin, Neusiedlersee, across the lake.
Blaufränkisch is well suited to and makes up over half of the vineyard area in Mittelburgenland. The region’s hills and plateaus, which are composed of variations in schist, loess and clay-limestone, produce high quality reds with interesting diversity.
Südburgenland, also known for its deep, complex and age-worthy Blaufränkisch, is beginning to turn out some alluring whites from Grüner Veltliner, Welschriesling and Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc).