This Is Not Pinot Grigio, This Is Grauburgunder!

01 Aug 2019

What is Grauburgunder?

Grauburgunder is actually just the German term for Pinot Gris which is a wine made from the same variety as Pinot Grigio only left for longer on the vine to achieve higher levels of ripeness and concentration.

It was at a recent tasting that Eilidh and Chris had their attention brought to this fabulous wine which relies upon a natural fermentation caused by yeasts that occur naturally within the grape rather than by using a yeast cultivated in a laboratory. The natural character of this wine is further enhanced by the fact that no fining takes place before bottling, leading to a rare richness and complexity on the palate

An Exciting New Venture

The Oliver Zeter winery is run by two brothers, Christian and Oliver, and despite only releasing their first vintage in 2007 they are already a multi-award-winning producer. Their tiny estate which comprises of only six hectares of land under vine is located in the Palatinate region and benefits from the mineral rich limestone and chalk soils which are prevalent in the area. 

The Zeter winery is primarily famous for the Sauvignon Blanc wines that they produced and were recently recognised at the Prowien convention as the best producer of oak aged Sauvignon in Germany. The do not rely upon this penchant for the grape variety and produce high quality red and white, dry and sweet wines in a number of styles.

The Bear

You will notice that on every bottle of Oliver Zeter wine there is an illustration of a drinking bear. This came from the quill of remowned Pfalz artist Otto Dill and is a depiction of Oliver and Christians great grandfather Walter Baer (German for bear. The story goes that on one occasion in 1933 Walter was unable to meet his friends for a regular ‘glass of wine or two’ and the artist sent the sketch on a postcard to his friend Walter the ‘bear’, and the postcard was signed by all the friends present that day. Oliver has the postcard in his kitchen. He declared that the bear had been with him all his life and when he made wine he would go on the label.