Arndorfer, Vorgeschmack Rosé - 2025

Fast Facts:

Winemaker(s): Martin & Anna Arndorfer
Region: Strass im Strassertale → Kamptal → Niederösterreich → Austria
Varietal(s): Zweigelt, Grüner Veltliner
Terroir: Loess and chalky clay, south facing slopes, cool climate with big swings
Serving Temp: 45-55°F

Martin and Anna Arndorfer truly had every reason to keep it quite chill, but we sure love that they didn't. Martin grew up in a winemaking family in Strass im Strassertale, a village in the Kamptal region where just about everyone is related to a vine in some way. Anna grew up a short hop away in Langenlois, the biggest wine town in the Kamptal, where her parents ran a sparkling-wine house and all three daughters went into wine.

After their love connection, Martin and Anna studied, traveled, drank with strangers, and in 2012 came home to take over Martin's family estate with their own ideas about what Kamptal wine could be. These days they farm 16 hectares organically and then largely get out of the grapes' way. The town of Strass sits in a cool part of Kamptal, where the side valleys pull cold night air down onto the vines after warm days. That daily temp shift is what keeps the wines so bright and full of personality. The Arndorfers have wandered so far off the typical script of Kamptal wines that some of their bottlings no longer qualify for the appellation classification, which is something to be proud of, I think.

Vorgeschmack means "foretaste," and it earns the name by doing something properly odd and so cool. They take Zweigelt and do a quick fourteen hour maceration on the skins to pull this lovely color you see. THEN, they ferment the pink juice on the crushed skins of Grüner Veltliner, adding extra spice, complexity, and grip, something you almost would never find in a "rosé."

Why'd we pick it?

Rosé season often has this way of becoming a parade of pale, overly polite, and faintly anonymous bottles. Adding Grüner skins is one of the coolest things we've seen, and one that you will find noticeably fun and intriguing. And it's a bit of a wine club tradition to bring this bottle in each season. Each vintage is truly unique, it goes with everything, and will fit in with whatever cool plans you may have.

Field Notes

• Tastes like: Crunchy red cherry and wild strawberry, then a swerve into white pepper, rhubarb, and crushed garden herbs. Bright acid and a faint lil' tannin.
• Serve it straight from the fridge and let it linger! It'll definitely show off a bit more with some swirling and time warming up.
• Food Pairings: Cherry stand wine, maybe add some salted Marcona almonds. A smashed cucumber salad with sesame and chili would be a real charmer. For you grillers, bratwurst with grainy mustard and char up some spring onions with it. Meat-skippers, this loves grilled summer squash and fresh ricotta atop toast. Tear up some mint for a cool garnish.