Peter Wetzer "Kekfrankos" Sopron, Hungary 2020

FROM JENNY & FRANCOIS

THE WINE: 

Grape: Kékfrankos (Blaufränkisch)

Vineyard: blend of several vineyards in Sopron: Kanratz, Kogl and Harmler, with loam, limestone and mica-schist soil. Organically managed, planted between 1970-1979

Making of: the grapes are hand-harvested and manually selected, destemmed and fermented in open vats for 18-22 days on the skins, with some manual punching down aiming at light extraction. The wine is then basked-pressed and aged in used 500-liter oak barrels with the lees. Bottled by gravity in May, unfined and unfiltered with a small addition of sulfur.

THE PRODUCER: Peter Wetzer grew up in a winemaking family, and while he studied the world of wine he came to realize he vastly preferred the wines that were made more naturally. In 2007 he purchased five different vineyards around the town of Sopron, in the northwest part of Hungary. Sopron was formerly the capital of Burgenland, so it is not surprising that the Kékfrankos (Blaufränkisch) variety is so commonly found here. Peter works Kékfrankos on five different vineyard sites comprising 2.5 hectares and additionally has 1 hectare of furmint vines he planted himself near the Ság volcano, and another hectare of vines from a few different varieties like Pinot Noir. He works to have very healthy soil, with natural biodiversity, and minimum spraying with copper sulfate and a nettle tincture he makes. He believes in minimal intervention in the vines, never tilling the soil or trimming the leaves. All grapes are hand-harvested, and the vineyards are all fermented separately