Fuchs und Hase Pet Nat Rose 2022

Where: Kamptal, Austria
Grapes: 85% Zweigelt, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon
Body: Light
Category: Sparkling Wine / Pet Nat

The nose is fresh and fragrant with notes of grapefruit and ripe raspberry with a touch of herbs and subtle gooseberry. On the palate, the wine is quite dry, crisp and juicy with rhubarb and lime flavors, subtle effervescence and a fine structure.

They make five to seven different cuvees each year, using different varieties. Every wine is a co-fermentation with different grapes and different levels of skin contact. Each cuvee is numbered by "Volume" and the higher the "Volume“ the more skin fermentation was used. 

Making of: Zweigelt is grown on very cold vineyard site called Tanzer in Langenlois, primarily rock, and Cabernet Sauvignon is grown on Loess soil with calcareous inclusions. Zweigelt was pressed as Rosé, skins of Cabernet Sauvignon were added to the fermenting juice. 10 mg/l sulfur added at bottling.

organic // native yeasts // low sulfites added

2022  //  750ml

Weingut Fuchs und Hase is an independent winery founded in 2014 by Stefanie and Alwin Jurtschitsch and Martin and Anna Arndorfer producing exclusively pet-nat wines. The Arndofers and Jurtschitsch's are very good friends and they spend a lot of time together, tasting together, and philosophising about wine over a beer. After learning about pet nat in other countries (none was made in Austria at the time), Martin and Alwin decided that they wanted to try to make some together. They went and shared their idea with their wives, and it turned out that Stefanie had already made one two years earlier as an experiment!

Pet-nat is a perfect wine for them to make together because they are philosophically aligned and it's important to work naturally. They are currently working with about three hectares total, each family contributing fruit from one and a half hectares, which are all certified organic and in the Kamptal. They chose to work with vineyard sites that are high elevation, near the forest, sites that have natural acidity and lower alcohol. In Austria, there is a saying, "where the fox and hare say goodnight" and it refers to a remote place surrounded by forest, which is how they came up with the winery name, the Fox and Hare, or Fuchs und Hase.