Bott Frigyes "Muzsla"

Grapes: Riesling + Sauvignon Blanc + Pinot Blanc

Region: Južnoslovenská, Slovakia

Vintage: 2019

Viticulture: Organic

Soils: Clay on top of volcanic bedrock

Vinification: 6 days of "hamburger method" skin contact. 

Aging: 18 months in neutral barrels

Fining or Filtering: None

Sulfur: 25 ppm

Notes from the Importer: This is the premium estate white blend. Muzsla is the name of the hill where the vineyards look down onto the Danube and 2019 is only the second vintage. It’s only the second vintage because the family needed time to evolve from the zero skin contact filtered wines that defined their earlier years and the unfiltered and more macerated wines they’ve been making in recent years. Early on Frigyes considered the more reductive lineup as “terroir” driven wines and his more macerated and oxidative lineup as more of the “soul” of the property. The Muzsla bridges this divide. Like the vast majority of their wines, this is made using the Hamburger method: three layers of foot trodden, whole cluster and whole berry fermented in open vats. The Muzsla spent 6 days in this hamburger method followed by 18 months in neutral oak barrels on the lees. Only racked once before bottling, then bottled unfiltered with a small (25ppm) addition of SO2. There’s weight, texture and freshness from the whole clusters, more chiseled acid driven elements from the whole berries, and given the aging time, it all comes together seamlessly. Some sips feel like a skin contact wine, some like stainless steel reductive winemaking, but the color, texture and aromatics give this wine a firm Goldilocks status in the Bott Frigyes lineup.