Zahel Orangetraube Orange T Dry White Austria 750ml

Intense peach and apricot fruit, with spicy tones and elegant minerality. The wine's fine acidity is well balanced with subtle sweetness, making it a perfect aperitif or complement to a light meal.

Orangetraube is a white grape varietal, originally selected from wild vines by the influential German viticulturist Johann Phillip Bronner in 1840. Since it's recognition in the "Lexicon der Rebsorten" (Lexicon of Grape Varietals) by August Wilhelm von Babo in 1954, it's been cultivated in Germany and Austria, though most frequently as part of a field blend (known in Austria as Gemischter Satz) and rarely as a single-variety wine. When fully ripe, the grapes' skin takes on a slightly orange tint, hence the name Orangetraube, literally translated to "Orange Grape."

 Orangetraube has been a part of Zahel's Gemischter Satz field blends since the winery began in 1930, but only since 1966 did Karl Georg Zahel select the variety and isolate it in a single vineyard. He had noticed that the Orangetraube gave his Gemischter Satz a unique quality, and hoped that to highlight the little-known grape in a wine of its own. Two generations later, Zahel is still the only Austrian winery that produces a wine composed of 100% Orangetraube.

Vienna is the only major city in the world that has vineyards within its city limits. The traditional wine from Vienna is the "Gemischter Satz," a field blend of traditional Austrian varieties. Long ago, this wine was only sold in the Viennese Wine Bistros (Heuriger).

For 4 Generations, the Zahel family has been growing wine. They started with 0.5 hectars and 4 tables in their wine bistro. Today Richard Zahel is operating wineyards in Mauer, on the famous Nussberg Hill, Neustift am Walde but also in Oberlaa and Sievering. In 1989, Richard Zahel was the first winemaker to market the traditional "Gemischter Satz" which is the most important representative of Viennese wine culture today.
Zahel is the only winery in Vienna with vineyards in all of the city's growing districts, allowing them to incorporate the unique terroir of each area into the wines. Not only in Gemischter Satz but also in Riesling, they produce wines from Crus like Nussberg in the North or Reisberg in the south of Vienna.