EBNER-EBENAUER,
Niederösterreich AT
Since my early age I was surrounded with wines. Shortly after my birth my grandfather planted 7 rows of local grapes next to our house in Bosnia. He used to make a lovely, but dangerous wine: it tasted so light and juicy, but after two glasses you were seriously tipsy.
It was many years later, in 2017, when I have started drinking wine, while thinking about it. The first wine that I fell in love with was Pinot Noir Black Edition 2015 made by the winemaker duo Ebner-Ebenauer.
Today I am representing their wines in Berlin, in Greece and everywhere I go.
Marion and Manfred Ebner-Ebenauer are already well known and established winemakers in Europe. Marion is a visionary, fire, vineyard, grape in its perfect shape. Manfred is time, patience, underground, silence, a refined drop. Together they create the beautiful balance that you can taste over and over again, year after year.
Ebner-Ebenauer is cultivating 38 different, small vineyards around the village Poysdorf. 38 vineyards mean various terroirs, and, in this case, we also speak above-average age grapes. For three years they are applying biodynamical farming. All together the perfect predisposition for the cellar work where the wine has plenty of time to rest and develop.
All wines are spontaneously fermented and are maturing in hundred wooden barrels and 70 stainless steel tanks, situated in the unique 400 years old winery. The variety that stands out is the local variety Grüner Veltliner, but the couple also makes astonishing Riesling, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir.
The hearth of the whole production are sparkling wines, pressed from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and matured on lees for at least seven years. What is Reims in Champagne, that is Poysdorf in Austria, so the recipe is the French one: the base wine is aged for two years in wooden barrels before it is bottled. Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noir Zero Dosage are wine masterpieces, the purest artisanry and the perfect blend of vision, dedication, and good will.
I learn many things from my winemakers, Marion and I shared many moments together, and while she was visiting Berlin last time she told me: “People like us Nikolina, they are never bored. Because we find inspiration everywhere.”