2014 Moric Blaufrankisch 750 ml

Discover what Jean-Georges, Chez Panisse, and Bar Boulud Already Have

Last December, we discovered a wine that made our hair stand on end. Wine Access clients snapped up EVERY bottle in less than an hour. It had pure red-berry aromas like Pinot Noir, it had notes of licorice and violets like Nebbiolo, and it had smokiness and black pepper flavors calling to mind Hermitage. It was gorgeous: aromatic, elegant, flavorful, and fantastic with food. And we discovered that our favorite restaurants in the U.S. have poured this wine by the glass over the last two years. Gjelina, Jean-Georges, Wallse, NOPA, Hearth, Spago Beverly Hills, Chez Panisse, The Modern Aldo Sohm Wine Bar, Augustine, Trestle on Tenth, Bar Boulud. The wine? 2014 Moric — a 100% varietal Blaufränkisch, an indigenous Austrian grape. Robert Parker called Moric a “Blaufränkisch star.” Jancis Robinson said Moric was the “king of Blaufränkisch.” Even Eric Asimov of the Times knew of this wine, calling Moric “my favorite Blaufränkisch producer.” We’re not the first to discover Blaufränkisch from Moric, but we’re certainly the most passionate.

Roland Velich farms about 60 acres around Austria’s Burgenland region. His Moric wines are made in a style that you will not encounter anywhere else in Austria. Its Blaufränkisch as if it were made as Grand Cru Red Burgundy.

He grows his grapes organically without herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, or chemical fertilizers — and stubbornly refuses to bother applying for organic certification. His wines are harvested from many small parcels in Mittelburgenland, from vines planted in Neckenmarkt — where soils are slate on one end of town and limestone on the other, and in Lutzmannsburg — where the soils are deep clay and loess over volcanic subsoil. Velich hand-harvests every grape and allows the wines to ferment spontaneously with natural yeasts. He’s a bit of an iconoclast in the region, known to speak his mind when it comes to his neighbors cutting corners in the vineyards and the cellar.

We might not have been the first to discover Blaufränkisch from Moric, but we’re certainly the most passionate, and strongly recommend this to any serious collector, or avid enthusiast of world class wines.