Bambule! is Judith Beck’s low-intervention range of wines. Neuburger is an Austrian white grape. This is a skin-contact wine, often known as an orange wine. It’s a wine made with white wine grapes, but as with a red wine, the grape skins are left in contact with the juice to extract flavour and tannins. This particular bottle was a birthday gift from someone we’ll call TY, who is also going to make an appearance now and again as a guest taster / commentator on some of these wines.
In keeping with the full disclosure bit – I am a big fan of Judith Beck. I, along with my research partner (partner in wine) Julia Leijola, was fortunate enough to work the 2015 harvest with her, and have visited the winery and vineyards a number of times. Nonetheless, I do my best to put that sort of thing out of my head when tasting a wine. Writing of which, without further delay:
In the glass, it’s ‘cloudy apple juice.’ Really. That’s what my notes say. It’s cloudy. It’s medium intensity, and it’s opaque. Most of that would immediately disqualify the wine as faulty under industry-standard rubrics. But we’re not industry-standard here. The ‘cloudy apple juice’ is because it is an unfined, unfiltered wine. Proponents of this style of wine, among which I include myself, say it gives the wine more character. And see down below for a story on apple juice.
On the nose once again there’s something. Melon? Apricot? I stick my nose as far into the glass as I can, and take a long, deep sniff. (Don’t let anyone tell you wine tasting is elegant. If you are doing it to write notes, elegant is one thing it is not.) I remark to TY that I think I just broke my brain. I smell it again. Yup. Brain has short-circuited. In addition to the melon, and possibly apricot, there’s a definite hint of smooth peanut butter. TY, when I ask for her thoughts, comes up with cantaloupe, apricots, and clementines. But no peanut butter.
Later, when reading up a bit on Neuburger, it turns out that with age, it can develop a nutty smell. So maybe my brain isn’t completely broken. Yet. As a 2016 white, it would be unsurprising if the wine started to show age-related aromas and tastes.
The palate. It’s full-bodied. It has bits! Again, that’s what you’d expect in an unfiltered, unfined wine. No large bits, but it definitely has character. I don’t pick up any peanut butter on the taste, but melon, possibly clementine, and lime. The lime is particularly notable on the nice, long finish.
As a skin contact wine, there are some tannins, but they aren’t particularly prominent. It’s got nice acidity. I wouldn’t’ call it crisp or zesty, but the acidity gives it structure, and helps keep it interesting.
The main thing with this wine is the mouthfeel. It has substance. It is interesting. It intrigues. If you are expecting it to feel like a Chardonnay, or even a Merlot, you’ll be disappointed. To return to apple juice, the feel of this wine in comparison to a fined and filtered wine is pretty much the same as cloudy apple juice (with bits!) to the clear stuff.
Rating: This is a yummy to yummy+ wine for me. TY gave it a yummy+ and called it refreshing. It stands up well to food. After the initial tasting, we had it with spanakopita, which was a nice match.
Sustainability: Judith Beck farms biodynamically, and is a member of Respekt-biodyn, a biodynamic organisation. The wines are also certified organic. One aspect of low-intervention wines is that it is arguably more sustainable, in the sense that there’s less stuff being used (no filtering or fining agents, wild yeasts, not ones bought from a shop, etc.)
Other stuff: The apple juice story. I was at a wine fair in London a few years ago, talking to another Austrian winemaker, Christian Tschida about low-intervention wines and consumer expectations. He said that it was a matter of education. He said he’d ask people who were hesitant about cloudy wines which sort of apple juice they preferred, the clear or the cloudy sort. They’d almost invariably say ‘the cloudy stuff.’ When he asked why, they’d say it was more interesting, and tasted better. So too with wines, he’d reply.
The technical info and such: 12.5% ABV, 100% Neuburger. This was a gift, but I know it was from Thirsty, although apparently currently out of stock. It retails for around £30.