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The
first thing you notice
about Willi Opitz is his
vitality. Even if you
see him from a distance,
the way that he moves
speaks of energy, enthusiasm
- obsession even. His
wines sing out about this
energy, and his energy
sings out about his wines .
Long past closing time
at the recent London Wine Trade Fair, senior
buyers were still clustered around Willi's
stand like the tightest-packed bunch of grapes.
His was possibly the busiest stand at the Fair,
yet it is probable that his was the smallest
vineyard represented there. The very smallness
of his vineyard encourages innovation, though.
Despite the same influences of upbringing and
oenological training as his many cousins in
their native Burgenland area, Willi tests the
everyday assumptions they make and arrives
at very individual answers.
For example, in his winemaking
he uses only native grapes, rejecting the fashionable,
superficially attractive foreign varieties.
He uses objectivity, not tradition for tradition's
sake: hence his idea of Schilfmandl (wines
made from grapes dried on the reed mats so
plentiful in his area) for which Austrian wine
law had to be changed.
- 1997
GEWURZTRAMINER. Auslese. Trocken.
- 1999
MUSKAT OTTONEL. Trocken.
- 1999
PINOT BLANC. Spatlese. Trocken.
- 1999
PINOT GRIS. Spatlese. Trocken.
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