Claus Preisinger St. Laurent 'Ancestral' Pét-Nat 2023

Made entirely from St. Laurent, one of Austria's important native red grapes, this is a blanc de noir pét-nat from Claus Preisinger in Burgenland. The grapes are picked relatively early to retain acidity, whole-bunch pressed, and the juice begins a spontaneous fermentation before being bottled while still fermenting, with the remaining sugar producing the wine's bubbles in bottle. This is méthode ancestrale aka Pét-Nat, hence the name, and one of the oldest and simplest ways of making sparkling wine.

Preisinger farms biodynamically around Lake Neusiedl, and the St. Laurent for this wine comes from gravel and limestone soils. Pale in colour despite the red grapes, it shows grapefruit, lemon, white flowers and raspberries, with fine bubbles, bright acidity and a dry finish.