FREIMEISTERKOLLEKTIV Wermut uhudler 017

Forbidden fruits should taste sweeter and somehow more appealing. Uhudler, a unique wine cultivated in a small Austrian region between southern Burgenland and eastern Styria, has been subject to repeated bans and restrictions. Even today, it is only permitted because it is not classified as a wine per se, but rather as a “fruit wine”. Lisa Bauer transforms this regional and occasionally outlawed specialty into a vermouth for the Freimeisterkollektiv.

Intense aromas of strawberry and black currant create the characteristic taste of the Uhudler. The grape varieties used are highly resistant to phylloxera and other diseases. Uhudler is made from several types ungrafted hybrid grape varieties. The varieties used are hybrids developed from crosses between the European species Vitis vinifera with the North American Vitis labrusca and Vitis riparia. It is the Vitis labrusca that gives the wine its signature strawberry taste. This aroma is also called “foxy”, long considered a derogatory term.
The distillate in Lisa Bauer’s vermouths always comes from the same wine as that which forms the basis of the vermouth itself. She gently extracts all the aromas from this wine at low temperatures through the process of vacuum distillation.

Before she can distill however, she must first make a wine from the Uhudler grapes. Once this Uhudler mash begins fermenting, interruption is impossible. “I tried that a few years ago and failed miserably,” she says. “When Uhudler is fermenting, it has its own dynamics. During spontaneous fermentation, one can see that other yeast strains are active. To stop this, you would have to put it in the freezer.” Uhudler ferments down to 1 gram of residual sugar and the infamous “foxy” aroma, of strawberry and wild berries, already becomes apparent during fermentation. At this point, it is important to remove the wine immediately from the yeast and pour it into a stainless steel tank. Uhudler clarifies very well. As Lisa explains, a 1,000 liter tank, without filtration, will produce a very fine wine with very little cloudiness after four or five weeks.

The herbs for the maceration are selected by Lisa with consideration for the characteristic berry flavours of the Uhudler. In addition to bitter wormwood and gentian root, the fruity components of the Uhudler are emphasized with liquorice root, lemon balm, orange and elderflower blossoms and lemongrass.

Ingredients:
Wormwood, Lemon Balm, Licorice, Orange Blossom, Elderberry, Lemongrass, Sugar, Uhudler, contains Sulphites