2019 Weingut Johanneshof Reinisch St. Laurent

"I’ve been on the hunt for a wine from some “different” regions for this club for a while now. We’ve had a string of Domestic wines in this club, which is fine, but you know me, I like to rotate things and keep things fresh and interesting. It was back in October of last year that we did a Blaufrankisch from Austria, so when I tasted THIS wine, I figured enough time had passed for us to revisit Austria – especially since this wine is from a different grape. As you may know, I’ve been having a love affair with Greek and Portuguese wines for the past few years…maybe it’s time for me to consider a new love interest – and Austria might just be the one. With amazing whites like Gruner Veltliner and dry Riesling and reds like Zweigelt, Blaufrankisch, Pinot…and St. Laurent, could you blame me?? I’ll confess, I was not familiar with this producer – which is exciting to me – but I definitely know it now. Apparently, Reinisch is one of the top producers of the region – and I can see why! I think this wine is delicious. Evidently, I’m not alone. The distributor Rep told me that a bunch of producers from Germany and Austria were at a dinner together recently and they popped a bunch of corks, tasting all kinds of wines, both white and red, and THIS wine was a clear favorite. What say you??" Mike Guerra, Advanced Sommelier

Winery Background/History

Started in 1923, Johanneshof Reinisch is a 40 Hectare estate, in the village of Tattendorf, located in Thermenregion. Thermenregion is “the end of the alps”, a DAC region in Austria, south and slightly west of Vienna. Today, the estate is run by the fourth generation of the family: the three Reinisch Brothers – Michael, Hannes, and Christian. The Johanneshof sits in a strikingly beautiful valley, in the “suburbs of Vienna”. This is a region with marked differences in climate and soil between valley floor and hillside vineyards, which rise over 350 meters above sea level. The holdings at the Johanneshof are split between two villages: Tattendorf, where the winery is located, is down in the valley, where soils are alluvial chalk with a loose soil structure, under a deep layer of humus and clay.  The village of Gumpoldskirchen is up on the hillside, at a much higher elevation. The soils are fossil bearing limestone with less topsoil and lighter soil structure. Gumpoldskirchen is slightly cooler and windier. With its lighter, limestone dominated soils, the vineyards here planted to Pinot Noir, as well as Chardonnay, while the valley floor is home to Sankt Laurent and autochthonous varieties Zierfandler and Rotgipfler. Currently the brothers farm 15 hectares in Gumpoldskirchen and 25 in the village Tattendorf.

 The Reinisch brothers converted to organic viticulture in 2004 and certified in 2010. This is a leading estate for red wine, widely considered to be the best in the region. When traveling in Austria and visiting various restaurants, you can be sure that if a wine from Thermenregion is listed, it will be from Johanneshof Reinisch. Currently, the brothers are working on conversion to Biodynamics but want to be very connected to the process, “not just doing the two sprays you need for certification” and so they are moving slowly, as they did for organic conversion. More than 50% of the estate is red wine, an even split between Pinot Noir and Sankt Laurent. From the importer: “These are some of the most striking red wines that we’ve tasted from Austria and offer a completely different and complimentary character to the excellent red wines we represent from Burgenland and Carnuntum, where Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt are the major players.”

In the beautiful, vaulted cellars, Hannes Reinisch is responsible for the wines. For Pinot Noir, he uses French wood, mostly 225-500L barrels from 10 different coopers. For Sankt Laurent, Hannes employs a mixture of French and Austrian oak from Stockinger in larger sizes. The fermentations at the estate are either in big wooden fermenters or stainless-steel vats where Hannes can make any number of decisions depending on the site, variety, and vintage. For Pinot Noir, Hannes normally uses 30% whole cluster, but this is not set in stone.  “In warmer vintages, we do more, in cooler years less, and some plots 100%. For Sankt Laurent it is normally between 10-30% whole cluster” he says.  After fermentation, the wines are then pressed and then filled directly into casks for aging. The Pinot Noir comes from 15 different clones, from Romanee Conti and others in Burgundy, while the Chardonnay is Burgundian and Sankt Laurent is a mixture of old Austrian clones.  For French oak, Hannes makes the point that there are regional differences between coopers: in Burgundy, the coopers expect that the wine is in oak for 14 months, Bordeaux they expect to have the wine for 22 months; this has a big effect on how the wood is treated.  Hannes generally uses Burgundy barrels for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Bordeaux for Sankt Laurent. Normally, the barrels are used for five years before they are replaced, but the total amount of new wood is quite small.

Whenever we talk about “old-world” Pinot Noir, we immediately think of Burgundy. Tasted blind, Reinisch’s Sankt Laurent could easily be mistaken for Pinot Noir. While these wines have some kinship with Burgundy in terms of flavor, the texture and appeal of the wines are unique. They are not stand-ins for great Burgundy but are excellent wines with their own character, expressing their place clearly. Like all great wines of the world, there is nothing quite like them. 

Wine

100% St. Laurent. Organic. Sourced from multiple vineyards. Aged in 50% barrique and 50% big oak casks.

Varietal – St. Laurent

Sankt Laurent (Saint-Laurent) is an aromatic black grape variety planted throughout parts of central Europe. It is most commonly found in Austria's key red-wine regions Niederösterreich and Burgenland. It is also the most widely planted red variety in the Czech Republic and is gaining popularity in Germany and other cooler winegrowing nations.

Sankt Laurent wines tend to be dark purple in color, structured yet silky with a characteristic dark-cherry flavor (similar to Pinot Noir). Blackberries, smoke and spice are also commonly exhibited. The wines are often matured in oak and show good aging ability.

Thanks to the success of the variety for producers in Germany's Pfalz region and parts of Austria in terms of wine quality and financial return, Sankt Laurent's reputation is on the rise, as are plantings. While it remains a fairly obscure variety, producers in cooler winegrowing regions in the New World are also beginning to experiment – Canada and New Zealand are two such countries.

Sankt Laurent has long been thought to be related to Pinot Noir. Some DNA profiling suggests that it is even a direct offspring, but this finding remains unsubstantiated and debate continues on whether there is a relationship. It is certain, however, that Sankt Laurent is a parent of Zweigelt (the other parent is Blaufränkisch).

Tasting Notes

Aromas of dark berries, black olive and spices. Sweet, compact plum fruit offers a meaty quality and a chewy texture. Nicely ripe on the finish, the St. Laurent offers good aging potential.

Reviews/Ratings/Accolades

“From shallow alluvial, very calcareous soils in Tattendorf, Reinisch's dark ruby colored 2019 Ried Frauenfeld St Laurent opens with a deep and intense but fresh, lemon-scented and slightly flinty bouquet of black berries and crushed stones. Pure and bloody. On the palate, this is a juicy, salty, piquant and finely grippy yet silky-textured and refined Saint Laurent with ripe and quite open fruit, fine tannins and good freshness on the slightly plummy and developed finish. A very charming, elegant and accessible red with 13% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in January 2022.” 91 Points – Wine Advocate 

“This features a pleasant tactility on the palate, with fruit to match, sporting notes of Damson plum and cola with orange-like acidity giving it a needed lift.” 90 Points – Wine Enthusiast

Food Pairing

St. Laurent is a gastronomic delight, much like Pinot Noir and other food-friendly wines, that pairs with both formal and simple cuisine; some compliments you may consider are Margherita pizza, classic burger, chili Verde, spicy chicken wings, Moo Shu pork, Peking duck, Vietnamese shaking beef, steak au poivre, roasted leg of lamb, lamb shish kebabs, Swedish meatballs…

 Optimal Drinking Window: Now through 2030.