Wine of the Month - January 2022

Judith Beck 'Beck Ink' 2020 is our Wine of the Month for January 2022!

A fresh and fruity biodynamic blend of Zweigelt and St Laurent from Burgenland in South-East Austria!

Throughout January, this wine will be sold at a reduced standard price of £14.50 and you will get 100 bonus loyalty points with every bottle that you purchase!

While it's more a mellow number than a big blockbuster, rich gamey stews and casseroles are just the things it goes well with, making it perfect for the current cold and dark January evenings!

The Wine

In a nutshell:
A biodynamic blend of Zweigelt and St Laurent from Burgenland in South East Austria.
The lowdown:
These two grape varieties are Austrian favourites and perform particularly well in this region of the country. Dark ruby in colour, and quite opaque it has something of a dense appearance. The body, however, is medium weight and silky smooth with a refreshing hint of minerality. The soft and dark juicy fruit flavours are well balanced by the subtle earthy and spicy notes making an altogether very characterful and very drinkable wine.
When to drink:
While it's more a mellow number than a big blockbuster, rich gamey stews and casseroles are just the things it goes well with and really brings out the best in it.

The Producer

Judith Beck
A family business Judith Beck inherited the estate from her father after having trained at the well known Bordeaux château Cos d'Estournel. Modest in size the estate has grown from 5 to 15 hectares over the years and from 2007 Judith has been producing her wines in accordance with biodynamic principles. The winery is housed in an impressive airy new building in the middle of the vineyards near the town of Gols in the far southeast of the country close to the Hungarian border.

While the winemaking methods here border on a 'natural wine' approach the emphasis is on a refined, understated style that captures the potential of the grapes. The traditional Austrian red grapes Blaufränkisch and St. Laurent are two of the varieties that she's particularly passionate about. While she is an impressively calm, and quite laid back person with a sense of relaxation that seems to transmit itself into her wines, which possess a lightness of touch not always apparent in this region she, nevertheless, has an eye for detail and is a stickler for thoroughness.

The biodynamic approach they use makes the most of the holistic curative qualities of nature and aims at strengthening the natural resistance of the vines. The overall objective is to produce authentic wines with genuine individuality while at the same time maintaining healthy soil and vines.

"We encourage the formation of humus, as a basis of healthy soils, by regularly applying cattle manure which we prepare ourselves and by cultivating grass between the vine rows. Herbal teas and biodynamic field sprays such as horn manure and horn silica are used in synchrony with the rhythm of the moon. The object being to strengthen resistance and maximize the ripeness of the grapes."