I got to liking it; have been always disposed to take a look at the cultural elements that frequently lurk behind the bottle—and before too long had cobbled together an English version...
There can be no doubt at this juncture that the world has another great red wine grape-variety, finding its way into the bottle.
Wine and
Culture
the history of a borderland as seen through a glass of
Blaufränkisch
by Roland
Velich
The
Foundation—
Ödenburg,
known today as Sopron, was famous for its wine, the Ödenburger Blaufränkisch,
which grew on the hillsides along Lake Neusiedl on the eastern outskirts of the
city, as well as on the northern and southern foothills of the Ödenburg
Mountains. A wine that had achieved great popularity, and as far as we know was
successfully exported all over the world. Founder and sustainer, financier and
daily bread for generations in Ödenburg and environs. Many aspects of the
wealth and beauty of this city and neighbouring localities can still be seen
today. Our wine is now grown on these last hillsides of the eastern Alps—geologically
speaking, foothills of the Alps, covered with sediments left long ago by the
Pannonian Sea. The climate here is continental, influenced by the Pannonian
Plain. Our wine is grown at the intersection of the two great and dominant
formations of the middle-European landscape, the Alps and the Pannonian Plain.
Conclusio
I:
Bacchus amat colles.
And it is not only Bacchus who loves the hillsides—Blaufränkisch loves them as
well, along with other particular geologic, climatic and social circumstances
conducive to achieving extraordinary quality.
The
Undergrowth—
Blaufränkisch,
a wine that achieved its first flight of fame at the time of the Napoleonic
wars, and according to legend, was praised by the First Consul himself as one
of the best red wines in all of Europe. The fine red wine was considered a
valuable payment and exchange medium, equivalent to the hardest Napoleonic
French currency, the franc—also a blue note. Is this where the name originated?
Or is that just another good story? Others say that Charlemagne—personally,
even—introduced the Blaufränkisch to the country. And of course, Empress Sissi
of Austria, Franz Liszt, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the Iron Chancellor
Bismarck—and so forth and so on—were allegedly great fans of the Blaufränkisch.
Many stories, great names from the cultural world, but very little hard fact.
Told in order to provide the wine with a cultural context and to solidify its
value? More likely to make the good stuff taste even better to potential
customers—shall we say, as an early PR gimmick...
Conclusio
II:
Marketing,
a technique long present in our culture, which doesn't really help us much in
our presentation and findings. We've got to find things out ourselves.
Interruption—
Burgenland,
a narrow stretch of land to the south of Vienna, bordered on the north by
Slovakia, in the south by Slovenia, and at its longest border to the east by
Hungary. Once known as German West Hungary within the Austro-Hungarian Empire,
as an integrated constituent part of the Kingdom of Hungary—and this Hungary
once one of the worlds greatest wine-producers. In 1921 Burgenland became part
of Austria, seen as a source of supply for the city of Vienna. But the dictates
of the victors in the First World War made a point of leaving all the cities of
the former Deutsch Westungarn behind
in Hungary: Steinamanger, Pressburg (now Bratislava in Slovakia) and Guens, as
well as Ödenburg, the naturally-evolved centre-point of the region. Central
point as well of a prospering wine-culture, with Blaufränkisch and Furmint as
its most important grape varieties. Burgenland remained, but as a land without
cities, and worst of all as a land without a capital to hold it together, bereft
of its centuries-old historical context. The land of the Ödenburger
Blaufränkisch was cut to pieces, and with this the history of the grape variety
became lost in the dark labyrinth of Hungary's political confusions.
Conclusio
III:
Politics
as a great destroyer of cultural assets and traditional values.
Warmth—
Two
wars and the barbed-wire they left behind in their wake, running across a
once-unified region, the breaking-off of essential rural territory on the one side
and the centre-point on the other, meant a great loss for all concerned. Loss
of establishment, loss of identity, loss of self-confidence as well as
confidence in the splendid circumstances the region had previously enjoyed. The
result often expressed itself in terms of indifferent wines designed according
to belief in the quality of other styles and belief in the omnipotence of homogenised
taste— industrialised wines bereft of any soul, arisen out of the merciless
categorical imperative of a Five Year Plan. The consciousness of a common
history concerning a product that we share, a product rooted in its own
strength and peerless character, as well as the sense of security that comes
from being rooted in a common cultural identity, will demonstrate to us that
it's not always the shirt that's closer to us than the jacket. On the contrary,
'tis the jacket keeps us warm in stormy weather. A grape variety like the
Blaufränkisch would certainly have the ability to spread wonderful warmth out
over the borders.
Conclusio
IV:
Self-reflection
as a spur to cultural development.
Culture—
Cultural
achievement consists of the collection, amplification and implementation of
techniques whereby with the passage of time a crude block is fashioned into an
artistically expressive object capable of arousing emotions:
Natural
circumstances of climate and soil, the directional orientation and incline-factor
of hillsides; trial & error and the lessons learned. Recognising mistakes
in previous interpretations of empirical data and correcting them, the choice
of rootstock, the grape variety and which clone—the selection of seedlings and
the research concerning where they might be planted to obtain the best
result—vine-training techniques, plantation density, cultivation of the soil
according to conditions, knowledge about the physiology of the vine and
applying this to their cultivation—optimisation of harvest time according to
style, and above all the most effective interpretation of the grape and its
location... Picking (Lesen—the German
verb means to read as well as to pick grapes) the individual vintages
and accepting the characteristics and peculiarities that render each unique.
Triage during harvest, instinct, influence of the soil upon flavour,
destemming, maceration, active intervention or simple TLC (?), patience, risk,
willingness, sleeplessness, maturing, casks, tasting, despair, enthusiasm,
bottling-appointments, bottling. And all this every year all over again, each
facet a new experience every time, which can exert its influence on the
subsequent vintage. And finally we paste our label on the bottle!
Conclusio
V:
The
span of time from when first the semi-nomadic horseman discovered a flavourful
berry in the forest—with which he filled his saddlebags and then after a week's
journey home found something in the saddlebags that perhaps didn't taste as
good, but had something inspiring about it—until today. Wine as a secularised
object of desire and big business—but still great fascination as well—has
developed its cultural history into a double helix with the deeply interwoven strands
Humanity and Wine.
Roland
Velich, born
in 1963, comes from Apetlon on
Lake Neusiedl in Burgenland. Together with his younger brother Heinz he led the
family estate Weingut Velich to the top rank of Austrian viticulture, creating
among others the white cult-wine Tiglat. In 2001, Velich embarked upon his
visionary Blaufränkisch project MORIC, where he interpreted (within the context
of Burgenland) a previously unknown, delicate and subtle style of wine made
from old-vines parcels. Roland is one of the few individuals most keenly
responsible for today's worldwide success and recognition of Burgenländer
Blaufränkisch.
