Judith Beck, Ink Red Blend (2020)

Producer: Judith Beck

Grapes: 80% Zweigelt & 20% St. Laurent

Where: Burgenland

County: Austria

Taste: deep, inky purple in color. The wine is fruity and fresh with notes of blackberry and black cherry. Medium bodied witth vibrant acidity. 

Vibes with: a good book by the fire

Additional info:

Judith Beck launched her INK in 2014. It is a fresh, juicy, vibrant and delicious blend of 80% Zweigelt and 20% St. Laurent. For this cuvée, she chooses the most forward and expressive batches from the Zweigelt and St. Laurent harvest. Judith picks all of the fruit by hand and sorts the grapes in the vineyard and at the winery before de-stemming. Fermentation occurs spontaneously, triggered only by the grapes’ native yeasts, in stainless steel tanks. She circulates the fermenting juice over the cap of grape skins once per day for the first 10 days to attain a balanced level of extraction. The young wines are then racked off their skins and moved into 1000-2000 liter, neutral acacia wood casks for two months where the wines complete their malolactic fermentations. They are then transferred to neutral 500 and 1000 liter casks for 8-10 months of aging. The 2 varieties are assembled and bottled in September before the next harvest. 12.5% Alcohol.

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The Judith Beck estate is based in the commune of Gols, in the Neusiedlersee region, on the eastern side of the Lake Neusiedl. Gols is part of the larger Burgenland region in easternmost Austria, with a very warm climate defined by the Pannonian plain and the Lake, whose temperatures reach 90 degrees in the summer and is only 1.5 meters deep. Indeed, this is the country's warmest wine growing area and the first to harvest. It is the center of the production of Austria's finest dry and full-bodied red wines.

The family estate was founded in 1976 by Matthias and Christine Beck. Their daughter, Judith, assumed full control of the winery in 2004, having made her first vintage in 2001. After graduating from the Klosterneuburg Viniculture College Judith Beck gained international experience at world-renowned wineries, including Château Cos d'Estournel in Bordeaux, Braida in Piedmont and Errazuriz in Chile. Managing the family winery comes naturally to Judith who has an innate “sixth-sense” for the regional varieties Zweigelt, Blaufränkisch and St. Laurent.

Judith Beck owns a total of 15 hectares of vines in Gols, with holdings in the vineyard sites Altenberg, Gabarinza, Salzberg and Schafleiten. 85% of the area is planted to red varieties - Blauer Zweigelt, Blaufränkisch, St. Laurent, Pinot Noir and Merlot, with the remaining 15% planted to white varieties - Welschriesling, Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay. In addition, grapes are brought in from another 5 hectares in the communes of Apetlon, Halbturn and Winden, and used in the production of the basic red wines. Vines are planted at high densities of up to 7,000 vines per hectare to limit yields and ensure ripe fruit at harvest time. Soils range from loam and clay on the lower vineyards to limestone, higher up on the ridges.

The Becks built an impressive new production and aging cellar in 2005. It allows Judith to manipulate her wines as little as possible in the vinification process, resulting in wines of pure and vivid expression of the variety and unique vintage character. Judith Beck’s wines are at once elegant, powerful, complex and possess good aging potential.

Judith and her father Matthias practiced sustainable viticulture from the outset, and converted to bio-dynamic practice with the 2007 vintage. She uses only native yeasts in the fermentation process. The Red wines are fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, in new barriques or in open vats. The wines undergo malolactic fermentation in new barriques or in large oak barrels. Some of the red wines are also matured in large oak vats, some of which are quite old, and are already being used by the third generation of owners. The wines are vegan.

The top-level Reds, including the St. Laurent Schafleiten, Pinot Noir, Pannobile Red (a blend of 55% Zweigelt, 35% Blaufränkisch, and 10% St. Laurent), Judith (50% Blaufränkisch, 30% St. Laurent, 20% Merlot) are fermented and matured in small barriques of which a small proportion is new each year.

The estate is a member of the Pannobile association, as well as of “11 Frauen und ihre Weine” (11 Women and their Wines). The philosophy of the domaine is aptly put by Judith: “Wine and the joy of living and pleasure all go hand in hand. We prefer wines which captivate all of our senses with each new bottle and each new sip.”