Moric

AUSTRIA - BURGENLAND

For more than a decade, winemaker Roland Velich made an intense study of the world's greatest wines of terroir with the explicit goal of finding “that thing”, as he puts it, that a wine must possess in order to achieve greatness. When he felt he'd learned enough, he set out to make an Austrian red wine that belonged in the same pantheon as the great Grand Cru Burgundies, the Northern Rhône and the legendary vineyards of Barolo. So began the Moric project. Its medium is Blaufränkisch, expressed through ancient vines in a challenging growing region, meticulous biodynamic viticulture, obsessive sorting and fairly primitive winemaking techniques. The Burgenland Blaufränkisch is a brilliant starting point, while this beguiling variety reaches its zenith in the old-vine wines from Lutzmannsburg and Neckenmarkt.with old vines in the heart of “Blaufrankisch country” – Mittelburgenland, specifically Lutzmannsburg and Neckenmarkt. His are wines in a style you will not encounter anywhere else in Austria: Blaufrankisch vinified as if it were Grand Cru Burgundy, and from hillsides (including terraces) and pre-clonal vines the like of which you will not find being cultivated in most of Mittelburgenland. One sip is an Oz experience (and I don’t mean Aussie, mates!). From his dreams, to his vines, to his vinification, to his retro label, Velich is in a world of his own. PATRICK WALSH