2007 Chardonnay, Tiglat, Velich

Velich’s 2007 Chardonnay Tiglat – which had been assembled but not bottled when I last tasted it – offers heady floral aromas along with lime, fresh peach, and a whiff of smoke. Rich and silken in texture and lusciously ripe, this is Chassagne-like in its alliance of pit fruits, citrus, red berries, toasted grains, and chalk. But no Chassagne I know would finish with such a burst of sheer mouth-watering fresh fruit as this, one of most exuberant young whites I can recall at this address. Expect this to merit cellaring for at least 4-5 years.

Heinz Velich (whose brother and former partner is the force behind the wines of Moric, about which see elsewhere in this report) produces Austria’s most distinguished Chardonnay (from vines his father planted believing they were Pinot Blanc) as well as some of the country’s finest nobly sweet wines. His wines are marked among other things by long stays in barrel and low-sulfur, resulting in a style Velich considers but closer to tradition and (especially when it comes to nobly sweet elixirs) more interesting from a culinary standpoint than the more reductive approach favored by most of his fellow Neusiedlersee vintners.
(David Schildknecht - Wine Advocate - Feb 2009)