Stadlmann, Pinot Noir, Thermenregion, Niederösterreich, Austria 2019

Produced from vines planted well south of the cluster of northern-Thermenregion villages that make up the majority of their holdings, Stadlmann’s Pinot Noir (called “Blauburgunder” locally) is simultaneously fresh and substantial, offering the textural harmoniousness of their white wines, as well as a lifted and elegant spice character that puts one in the mind of excellent red Burgundy. (After all, it was the Cistercian monks who brought Pinot Noir from Burgundy to the Thermenregion in the late 1100s.)

Like the estate’s white wines, this is fermented and aged entirely in large, well-worn oak casks and bottled without fining and with only a gentle filtration. Certified organic since 2006 and practicing biodynamic more recently.

Eighth-generation Bernhard Stadlmann, who took the reins from his father Johann with the 2006 vintage, holds three doctoral degrees, but he chose ultimately to dedicate his life to continuing and refining the traditions established by his long chain of predecessors.

Although the Thermenregion’s global popularity is eclipsed by that of the Wachau, Kamptal, and Kremstal regions, it was here that Austria’s most prized wines were produced historically. Stadlmann owns 20 hectares of vines in 35 separate parcels in the northern sector of the Thermenregion, a chain of gentle east-facing slopes with soils of varyingly mixed limestone and clay.