Weingut Gernot and Heike Heinrich Pinot Freyheit 2023
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The Land
This is the playful counterpart to Heinrich's serious Leithaberg reds, and it comes from the same Burgenland base on the eastern shore of Lake Neusiedl. The Pannonian climate here is warm and continental, tempered by the vast shallow lake, and the soils around Gols run to gravel and sand over clay. Those warmer, free-draining sites give Pinot Noir a riper, rounder, more open character than the tense limestone slopes, which is exactly what this wine is after: charm and drinkability rather than weight.
The Wine
Pinot Noir made in a deliberately free, low-intervention style, which is what the name Freyheit, an old spelling of the German word for freedom, points to. Fermented with native yeasts and made with a light hand, it is a fresh, juicy, translucent red: red cherry, cranberry, raspberry, and a little floral lift, with soft tannins and bright acidity. This is a chillable, gulpable Pinot rather than a brooding one, built for pleasure and early drinking. Open the 2023 young and drink it freely, ideally after a 20-minute chill.
The People
Gernot and Heike Heinrich farm around 90 hectares in and around Gols, on the eastern shore of Lake Neusiedl in Burgenland. They helped put Austrian red wine on the map, then in 2006 converted the entire estate to biodynamic farming, earning Demeter certification and joining the Respekt and Pannobile groups. Their vineyards split between the limestone and schist of the Leithaberg and the gravel of the Parndorf plateau, and in the cellar they work with spontaneous fermentations, indigenous yeasts, large old oak, and increasingly clay amphorae, all aimed at expressing site rather than technique. They are among the most important and most searching producers in Austria today.
Food Pairing
A light, chillable red that goes with almost anything casual. Pour it with roast chicken, charcuterie and pâté, mushroom pizza, or grilled salmon. The bright fruit and soft tannins make it flexible enough for both white and red meat, and a short chill makes it a natural warm-weather red. Serve lightly chilled.
We ship wine to most states with a $100 minimum order for shipping. We don't ship spirits nor beer.
Weather shipping advisory: Orders placed during times of extreme heat or extreme cold will be held for no charge until more favorable weather returns.
Burgenland, Austria's easternmost region, is defined by its warm, continental Pannonian climate, resulting in opulent and authoritative wines across the spectrum. While known for producing some of Austria's most powerful red wines, particularly from Zweigelt and Blaufränkisch, Burgenland also excels in complex white wines and extraordinarily fine sweet wines. Key white varieties include Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Grüner Veltliner, and Welschriesling. The region is geographically diverse, with Eisenberg in the south known for mineral Blaufränkisch, Mittelburgenland and Rosalia for fruit-driven Blaufränkisch, Leithaberg for complex whites and Blaufränkisch, and the Neusiedlersee and Seewinkel areas in the east renowned for both powerful Zweigelt reds and exceptional botrytized sweet wines.
Austria - Burgenland
Pinot Noir is a thin-skinned, notoriously difficult-to-grow, low-yielding grape that finds its ancestral home in Burgundy, France, where it produces some of the world's most elegant and nuanced wines. While Burgundy remains its spiritual heartland, Pinot Noir has since traveled the globe, finding success in other cooler climates, notably in California, Oregon, New Zealand, and Germany. This grape is a challenge for any grower, as it requires specific conditions to show its best, and yet the wines it produces are capable of such a captivating and singular character.
