Public Service Announcement: Orangetraube is not a skin-contact “orange” wine! I repeat, NOT an orange wine. Not that there’s anything wrong with those, it’s just that this is something different—a single-variety white from the extraordinarily rare Orangetraube grape. Haven’t heard of it until this moment? Get in line with just about everyone else in the world—including me.
This mysterious little grape has historically played an important part in Vienna’s fan-favorite ‘Gemischter Satz’ (a blend of many grapes). For Zahel, Orangetraube had played a delicious supporting role in their Gemischter Satz since their first vintage in 1930, except it took them 36 years to fully realize that. In 1966, they finally discovered the secret ingredient that had made their flagship so incredibly distinct and appetizing. That’s right: Orangetraube! Since that year, they’ve bottled it in varietal form. What’s more, Zahel remains the only producer in the entire country of Austria that does this. So, if unique is your game and you’re seeking an addictive, insanely flavored wine of mind-bending refreshment, this rare 2018 Orangetraube is it. And remember, while we typically associate “rare” with expensive, today’s $25 gem buries that notion. Stock up for the Spring and Summer!
Vienna is the only major European city with a significant stand of vineyards within its boundaries, which is why heurigen have thrived here. Traditionally, a heuriger was a local tavern serving up authentic bites and unlabeled jugs of Gemischter Satz picked from family-owned vineyards planted to intermixed grape varieties—a.k.a. “field blends. Today, these watering holes remain a large part of Viennese culture. Having traveled to Austrian wine country many times, I taste this wine and I’m immediately transported to a heuriger.
So it’s no surprise that’s how Zahel got its start: In the beginning, they only produced wine from half of one hectare and ran a quaint four-table heuriger. It stayed this way for nearly 60 years, until 1989, when third-generation Richard Zahel took over. Today, he and his nephew, Alexander, run this small family enterprise that they’ve since grown to 10 hectares—along with a few more tables in their tavern. Upon Alexander’s arrival in 2005, he began a sustained push toward Demeter’s biodynamic certification, which was finally realized in the 2018 vintage.
Zahel’s 100% Orangetraube is biodynamically farmed in the Viennese wine-growing area of Mauer, where Zahel’s home base is located. Upon singling out these vines and hand harvesting, winemaking is clean, simple, and precise: a gentle pressing, fermentation and subsequent lees aging in stainless steel, and bottling the following year. To sit at a picnic table drinking wine like this (even if it’s in your backyard) is an experience every wine lover should have. Its amazing freshness, boosted body, and palate-enlivening minerality will automatically send you running for a second bottle, so save yourself a trip and bring a mini-cooler outside with you and your friends. It’s full of concentrated aromas and flavors like citrus blossoms, yellow peach, Mandarin orange, creamsicle, ripe apricot, and green apple skin, along with a sprinkle of crushed stones, delicate spice, and citrus zest. The palate is utterly joyful and bursts with an energetic piquancy and mouthwateringly ripe fruits. It’s to be enjoyed now, in large amounts, at a cool 45-degree temperature. We hope you enjoy this rarely seen but always delicious Orangetraube!
