Wenzel - 'Lockvogel - Wild & Free' - Gelber Muskateller - Burgenland, AT - 2021

Michael Wenzel's philosophy is to create a beautiful wine with as little intervention as possible- stripped down to its wholesome, exciting, provocative, living, sensual and pure expression of self.
Lockvogel means decoy, and this is intended to lure conservative wine drinkers into the world of skin fermented wines.

The Gelber Muskateller vines grow in soil consisting of slate crystals, gneiss particles and quartz. There is no irrigation and the farming is biodynamic. Hand harvested. 90% destemmed into open top fermentation tanks with 10% whole cluster. Native yeast. After 7 days one careful punchdown by hand. 9 days maceration then moved to stainless steel tank. Spontaneous malolactic fermentation completed by spring. Unfiltered with one sulfur addition of 20mg per liter just before bottling. This decoy has approachable and modest skin fermented characteristics and retains its high-toned aromatics and fruit. Bone dry.

What does happiness have to do with renunciation?

You can think about that for quite a while.
But we find: A lot! Unnecessary ballast falls away, you gain freedom and can better concentrate on the essentials. We do this in our winemaking and also try to analyse exactly in everyday life: do we need this or that? - or is it simply practised, has it simply crept into our lives out of habit?

Such inner processes are also reflected in wine and photography: both become more expressive, more focused, more precise and much more alive! And at the same time, everything becomes simpler. For us, this is a great moment of happiness. Actually more than just a moment - it nests in our lives as a fundamental contentment.
Our wine contains the spirit and creativity of people who respect the earth and its environment. A juice full of life!
Our vineyards are all located in Rust, in the so-called Rust Hills, directly on the western shore of Lake Neusiedl, 5 km away from the green Hungarian border. The climate in Rust is influenced by the Pannonian climate, the temperature regulation of Lake Neusiedl and the cooling downdrafts of the Leitha Mountains.

While the chalky soils in the north are an excellent basis for Blaufränkisch and Burgundy varieties, the quartz-rich, typical "Ruster Schotter" soils in the south produce predominantly fine, mineral white wines - also from the rare, traditional variety Furmint, which is currently experiencing a renaissance as Burgenland's former most important grape variety.