Kobatl 'Sauvy' Sauvignac Steiermark 2022

Michl Gingl, “Mikey” to his friends, is making wines that challenge the space-time continuum. Rooted in a place of great historical significance, he has committed himself to the cultivation of PiWi varietals (fungus resistant hybrid grapes that are roughly 85% vitis vinifera) which have posited themselves as forward-thinking, logical, antidotes to the ever-warming globe. Situated in the subregion of Styria in the Vulkanland, just on the border of Slovenia, this area used to be lowkey famous, noted on every civic vineyard map of Austro-Hungary. Mikey lives and farms just below the once-famed vineyard hilltop site Könlgsberg, “King’s Hill,” rife with volcanic basalt and weathered rock. Eschewing industrial agriculture, Mikey’s steadfast devotion to organics and his hatred of copper and sulfur sprays cemented the idea of working solely with hybrid grapes which lend a stronger line of defense against the region’s hallmark humidity. This sauvignac was hand-harvested and direct-pressed into stainless steel tanks for spontaneous fermentation and six months of élevage. Drawing from French tradition, oxygen and reduction enter into a tensely choreographed tango that offers lush, tropical fruit and grungy volcanic-driven stateliness. Bottled unfined and unfiltered, with a teeny tiny bit of SO2 at bottling, expect delicate green aromas of nettle, lilac, and meadow flowers to frolic out of the glass while reductive, volcanic bass notes ground the whimsy back to an earthly reality. Antiquities colliding with futurisms in a glass, this is a delightful Austrian house-remix of a Loire valley sample. Chenin blanc, who? Organically grown, low-intervention/natural wine, vegan.