You might say Matthias Warnung was born to be a winemaker, having grown up on his family's winery in the Kamptal, about 55km northwest of Vienna. Then again, it might’ve been formative years spent under South African maestro Craig Hawkins of Testalonga or Kiwi producer Tom Lubbe, better known perhaps as the brains behind the unsinkable Matassa label in the Languedoc. Either way, it’s safe to say this strapping young man brings a fair bit of pedigree to the table.
These days, Matthias looks after the 10 hectares he took over from his dad in 2010, comprising classic native varieties like grüner veltliner and zweigelt, along with riesling, chardonnay and müller-thurgau. Farming is organic and all the tinkering (or lack thereof) takes place in a 500-year-old cellar that’s home to giant foudres. These wines have landed on Australian soil for the very first time, and they are absolute crackers if we do say so, whistle-clean and pinpoint-precise.
The Potatoland (how ’bout that for a name?) is a light-style grüner veltliner from the estate’s younger vines, which sees no oak and has a skippier, more playful personality that’s far less “green” and more orchard-fruit-driven than others of its kind. Yummo. Then, there’s the aptly named Wild Bunch, an unconventional blend of riesling and zweigelt macerated in grüner veltliner juice, which spends 29 months on lees – a blush, textured, wildly aromatic ride if there were ever one.
Rounding out the selection are two wines in Matthias’s ‘Espere’ range, which are from older estate vines (~40 years) and look to whole-bunch fermentation and extended time on lees for extra depth and vitality. The Espere rosé is made exclusively from zweigelt, all berry brightness and snappy acidity, while semi-carbonic maceration lifts the violet and dark-spice profile of the Espere zweigelt. Rip in!