Charlemagne Wine Club - 2009 Tastings

The next Tasting

Monday 11th May 2009 Austrian Wines presented by Willi Opitz

Willi Opitz

Willi Opitz is a man of huge energy, ethusiasm and marketing skill, who strives to innovate. He has a 8 hectare vineyard on the Neusiedlersee at Illmitz in Burgenland, where he creates an eclectic portfolio of wines, ranging from dry to intensely sweet. He doesn't do things the easy way and a spirit of adventure is definitely required of visitors and those tasting his wines. All the wines are made in relatively small quantities. He does make some dry tables wines, but his real strength is in dessert wines. The range encompasses Late Harvest, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese wines, Eiswein and Schilfwein. It is also notable that the method of production includes drying on reed mats resulting in the local authorities, who obviously have a sensible and pragmatic approach to such situation, adjusting the local regulations so that the exemplary wines were legally permissible under local wine laws. He uses a multiplicity of grape varieties including Muskat Ottonel, Zweigelt, Welschriesling and Scheurebe, Bouvier, Scheurebe, Sämling 88, St.Laurent and Pinot Noir among others. The premier wine in the range, Opitz One, is produced from Zweigelt, harvested in September, and dried on the mats for up to six months.