NV Schloss Gobelsburg Tradition 50 Year Blend

Intensely golden-yellow in color, the NV Tradition Heritage Cuvée 50 Years Edition 850 blends several grape varieties and a wide range of vintages from the last 50 years, starting with the 1970 vintage. The nose opens precise, lean and fresh, with bright and spicy fruit and flinty notes. On the palate, this treasure is crystalline, tight, reductive and very elegant, with a long and tensioned finish. This Jubilee edition reveals remarkable finesse and grip and represents the historical spirit and substance of the castle. Due to the matured wines from the 1970s and 1980s, this is a leaner, more filigreed style than the newer assemblages that contain only barrel-stored reserve wines from the Michael Moosbrugger era. The wine is doubtlessly very impressive. To create the blend, many bottles of the wine library were opened, tasted and decanted into small vessels that were then, little by little, blended into a cuvée. "It demands a clarity of vision and long years of experience with the wines of the Danube River region to compose a cuvée of this style," says Moosbrugger. "The different soils and the various grape varieties demand an understanding of their nature and their functionality in a blend, in order to create a wine like this." Thirty-three percent of the cuvée is from vintages of the most recent decade (2011, 2013, 2014 and 2017), 37% from 2000, 2002-2005, 2007 and 2009), 7% from the 1990s (1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999), 12% from the 1980s (1980, 1981-1984, 1986, 1987, 1989) and 11% from the 1970s (1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1977 und 1979). As Michael Mooesbrugger says, "The Jubilee cuvée combines 25 years of monastic culture with 25 years of modern wine culture." (Moosbrugger started at Schloss Gobelsburg in 1996, so exactly 25 years ago.) Grape varieties are not really important here, but to make history complete, here they are: Grüner Veltliner, Riesling, Grüner Sylvaner, Muskat Sylvaner (Sauvignon Blanc), Riesling Sylvaner (Müller-Thurgau), Welschriesling, Muskat Ottonen, Trainer and Muskateller (Muscat à petit grains). Tasted in June and September 2021.