Jakob Schönberger - Waldacker Neuburger 2020
To conclude the little tour through Austria, we're drinking Burgenland once more: a bottle of Neuburger Waldacker 2020 from Jakob Schönberger.
It wouldn’t have felt right to do this lap through Austria without also having a wine from Jakob Schönberger on the table. After all, last November in Karlsruhe he was a bit of the trigger for this series. Jakob Schönberger is taking over the winery from Günther Schönberger, who was known to the audience in Karlsruhe at least primarily for his music. Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung. For me, that was more an opportunity to realize that maybe I’m still pretty young by comparison, because to this day EAV doesn’t get more than a confused look out of me. Also just not my kind of music at all. In any case, Günther bowed out in 1996 and has been a full-time winemaker since then. By now Jakob has taken over and farms about 10 hectares around Mörbisch on Lake Neusiedl in Burgenland. As so often in recent weeks, the vineyards here are also close to the border, this time with Hungary. Though “close to the border” is an understatement, because it’s hard to get much closer than Mörbisch. If you really want to dive deep into the Schönberger matter, you can also listen to the evening in Karlsruhe (if you speak German that is). The vines for today’s wine grow in a Mörbisch single vineyard site called Waldacker, which I couldn’t find on any vineyard map. The vineyards are farmed biodynamically, at the Schönberger estate they’ve been organic since 1991. The roots grow here in clay, the view looks out over the lake, which of course strongly influences the local microclimate. Neuburger is an autochthonous grape variety in Austria, which I’m now having in a single-varietal wine for the first time. After spontaneous fermentation, the wine is aged for almost three years in used wooden barrels.
Blind, I’d put this in the Jura. Very nutty, a bit of glue, volatile acidity, pome fruit behind it, but not much. This is actually very far from fruity. Then on drinking: first creaminess, then yellow, then the acid kick comes in the middle of the tongue, and at the end the wine settles high up at the back of the palate, exactly the spot where you normally choke and then cough for minutes. And it stays there. For me, once again, this is right on the edge of what I like to drink in terms of volatile acidity. But on the side where I still like it. The Welschriesling at the tasting evening was on the other side. But I’m just sensitive there. I like the wine, but it has too much punch for big gulps. The fellow drinker doesn’t have that issue and is really celebrating it right now. Between sips, the yellow fruit keeps popping up again and again, but never really wants to be pinned down. How typical that is for Neuburger, I can’t judge anyway, as I already wrote. I can only grin because everywhere you google it says “low in acidity”. This one most definitely is not.
At first, on the second evening, I briefly think nothing has changed. But the second nose is then so herbal and no longer nutty at all that I quickly take that assessment back. At first there’s no glue anymore either, but after two or three swirls in the glass it loudly calls hello again. I hardly dare write it, but somehow I’m drinking myself into this acid edge. Right before swallowing it really kicks you against the palate once more, and somehow it has something. Fruit up front, creaminess, and then the kick. There’s a bouquet of mint in between, something berry-like, and the pome fruit. For me this still isn’t a wine for big gulps or for thirst, it’s a nerd wine. One glass really is enough for me. Not because it fills you up, but because I have to think too much about it while drinking. That isn’t a criticism, it’s an observation, because I really like it a lot. Just in small sips. And blind, I’d still put it in the Jura even now.