Happening Now Tasting 10: Weingut Thomas Strohmaier Blauer Wildbacher 2008, Western Styria

After a week of sobriety, miserable weather and plenty of slumbrous engagement it is time for something new and unfamiliar. Today, I am about to drink my first wine made from Blauer Wildbacher. This Blauer Wildbacher is supposedly an ancient dark skinned grape variety which is a particular specialty from Styria in Austria. In most cases Blauer Wildbacher wines are produced as easy drinking (or sometimes not so easy - due to unique spiciness) Rosé wines. The so called Schilcher wines. Today's wine is far away from humble Rosé. Today's one is one of the few oak barrel aged "real" redsters made from Wildbacher. Its producer Thomas Strohmaier is without a doubt one of the major experts in the business of this autochtonous grape varietal from Western Styria. Besides my Wildbacher he also produces four different Schilcher wines. Pretty excited right now, I guess ... Let's go!

7:31 pm (just opened)

Colour: dark purple red with a slightly murky veil and a decent amount of particles, a rather juvenile colour

Nose: rather present and spicy bramble, assorted herbs from Central Europe, a hint of paisley, also some already well integrated oak and a few traces of mild rum pot.

Taste: very present acid in combination with not so few hard tannins upfront, quite a lot of rugged, and in this form unexpected, mineral flavours of crude and fresh but tobacco (+ a bit of moist ashtray), pepper, potato peelings and dark and dusty choco. The lean and fresh appearing bramble fruit seems to be really present and well concentrated as well. However maybe a little bit in the background at the moment. There is quite a lot of suspense and excitement going on in my glass right now. Not sure where this is heading. Looking forward anyway …

8:38 pm

Nose: no substantial changes at all

Taste: acid is still very lively, fruit seems to gain a bit of ground, more strength and melt'y sweetness is providing more equilibrium – not sure why I use this word, seems for some reason adequate - in this Wildbacher, however the tobacco'ish herbal features are still dominant, I guess the tobacco is getting more green, just like Burmese cigars; definitely not sure where this one is going ... 

9:39 pm

Nose: is getting more brawny and rustic-stinky, fruit is declining and the tobacco-pepper impressions are stagnant at the moment; getting a bit dull right now

Taste: acid is still pretty dominant (or sharp), pepper seems stronger, tobacco weaker, fruit impressions seem steady and a bit simple or one-bram'ential ;-)

10:33 pm

Nose: Fruit is almost gone, pepper and still greener getting green tobacco is still very well sniffable; getting more simple and rustic 

Taste: Hard to describe – I think the overall substance is definitely degrading, the presence of those previous impressions are still the same but more thin and out of balance; the acid is still the main character in this palate-play.

6:29 pm (next day)

Nose: far less tobacco features, some traces of assorted greenery, more smokiness, still some pepper, plenty of lean and a bit cooler seeming rum pot associations (a comeback) and here a few traces of not too unappealing horse dung; still a rather crude, not really complex and definitely not all too subtle nose - but not that bad either

Taste: acid seems even more stern and sharp than yesterday, or more likely the actual flavours developed into a rather unpleasant direction, every palatal feature apart of the acid weakened substantially; right now more of a nose wine

After all, a really interesting kind of lean, kind'a fresh and robust dark red wine with very spicy characteristics. I suppose those mineral and fruitful features remained in a slightly straight forward superficial mode. Depth, length and refinement weren't the strong suits of this unusual wine. The really austere acid wasn't me as well. Anyway, still a so la la*** wine. I think I never had something like this before and of course it wasn't that bad either at all. But unfortunately not really my pigeon ...