I’ve got a lot to write about from my trip to Switzerland, which might interest the kind of open-minded reader I tend to get lurking around this blog (ie the best kind of wine lovers). But first I need to tell you what I drank during September. Considering we were away for more than half of that month, I’m surprised to have ten wines to plug to you. Despite now having a fair few Swiss wines to drink, I do feel the cellar needs a top-up.

The usual two-part format follows, but just five wines in each part. First in Part One, an Austrian favourite which has spurred me to want to buy more, then a rare sighting in Scotland of a wine from Romania. Northwest Spain gets a look-in, as does Czechia. That wine, from Southern Moravia, is one I had last tasted a vintage of in 2022, at the domaine. I’d forgotten how good it is. Last but by no means least is a lovely sparkling wine from Bugey, but this time a dry one.

Rakete 2022, Jutta Ambrositsch (Vienna, Austria)

If you’ve ever made the mistake of telling me you are going to Vienna you will doubtless have had me reel off a string of things you must do, things that would more than fill a week, or would drown a long weekend. If there is one thing I do without fail on each visit, it is to walk in the vines, principally above, on and around the Nussberg. I’ll even tell you which metro station to go to, which bus to get and where to get off. Come to think of it, I’ve written it all down on Wideworldofwine (Heurigen, Buschenschanks and Popups: A Walk in the Woods and Vines, 29/08/2018).

I do this walk, with variations, first because it is beautiful up there, looking down on the city and the Danube, but also because I love Vienna’s wines. In the summer months I can even get a drink up there, as the name of that article intimates.

Among all the makers of wine in Vienna’s hinterland, Jutta Ambrositsch is my subjective favourite. I first met Jutta and her husband at a RIBA Tasting organised by Newcomer Wines also back in 2018 (March). She was mentored by the great name in Wiener Gemischter Satz, Franz Wieninger, but with her small operation (around 3ha on the Nussberg and a single hectare over the river at Bisamberg, where Wieninger is based) she was producing the most electric of wines with no interventions, nor additions. She still is.

As I have described it before, Rakete is a glowing Gemischter Satz red (but labelled as a table wine). It’s a field blend, all the grapes being grown, picked and fermented together. Gemischter Satz could be called the soul of Vienna, although the style is not exclusive to the city. The varieties in this one are 80% Zweigelt (aka Rotburger), with Saint Laurent, Blauburger (aka Pinot Noir), Merlot and Grüner Veltliner, from just five rows of vines.

Fermentation is in stainless steel and the wine is bottled on fine lees, naturally being unfined and unfiltered. Crunchy ruby-red fruit, lots of red cherry and cranberry, bursts through. There’s a lip-smacking tartness and a slightly grainy texture. Very refreshing, very alive, very, as I said, electric. Obey the order to “shake resolutely” and drink very chilled. You will love it. £25-£30 from Newcomer Wines if they have any.

Gisela 2023, Weingut Edgar Brutler (Satu Mare, Romania)

I have the good fortune to live near a number of excellent Edinburgh wine shops which seem to be a little more adventurous than many of those down in England have become in this era of economic depression. Romania has, perhaps, a reputation for cheaper wines, but this one looked a lot more interesting. An adventurous choice, and from an adventurous importer too.

The Brutler family moved back to Romania from Stuttgart in 1997, after they had spent more than a decade in Germany. They went back to reclaim the land which the family had farmed since the 1850s but had lost during the communist era. This land lay in the Carpathian foothills at Crisana, ideal for viticulture with its iron-rich soils.

Edgar trained at Geisenheim, Germany’s famous wine university on the Rhîne, and then worked in Austria. Although Geisenheim has a reputation for a particularly classical form of wine education, Edgar makes natural wine with no apology. The current winery was built in 2018.

Named after a favourite family chicken (and I know that chickens as pets is sometimes a thing in Romania, and very affectionate they can be), this is another red field blend. The long list of varieties here includes Grüner Veltliner, Welschriesling, Blauer Portugieser, Blaufränkisch, Merlot, Muscat and Királyleánika (more usually known as Feteasca Regala in Romania). All are aged in used oak, one Austrian barrel and one French, after a co-fermentation.

This is a refreshing Rosé wine but definitely on the red fruits spectrum, and with a bit of texture from maceration. That gives it an edge with food, but there is also some lemon citrus acidity. In summary, a fun wine but with some depth as well. Only 900 bottles were produced, and so it seems to have sold out at Cork & Cask now. Importer Roland Wines appears still to have some at £32.50.

Louro do Bolo Godello 2022, Rafael Palacios (Valdeorras, Spain)

Rafael has a famous name. He’s the brother of Àlvaro, who became a superstar, revolutionising Priorat with his L’Ermita before returning to run the winery his father started in Rioja, Palacios Remondo, with no less success. Rafael chose Valdeorras and its autochthonous varieties with which to make his own fame.

He founded his own winery in 2004 after stints working at producers ranging from Pétrus in Pomerol to Penfolds in Australia. He was drawn to Valdeorras first for its rugged, hard to work, steep hills, populated with parcels of often abandoned old vines, and also because he wanted the space to work in more traditional ways than he felt was possible in Rioja at the time.

Louro do Bolo is a label where estate fruit is mixed with that purchased from small farmers within the region. This Godello, the grape Rafa moved here for, is quite rich in this bottling. It shows 14% alcohol. The bouquet has apple and apple blossom and manages to taste honeyed and flinty at the same time. There is actually 90% Godello here, with 10% co-planted Treixadura, harvested at around 600 masl. The grapes are fermented together in French foudres, and aged on lees for just four months.

If you have tasted Rafa Palacios’s As Sortes you will have tasted one of Spain’s very best white wines. It’s a stunning wine, one of great stature and composure without losing a remarkable vibrancy. However, it does merit patience. This relatively inexpensive wine cannot compete on that level, but as we know, great winemakers rarely make duff wines. This does point the way towards that famous cuvée, and it only cost me £25 from Lockett Brothers (East Lothian), via, I think, Liberty Wines.

Moravian Rhapsody 2022, Jaroslav Osička (Moravia, Czechia)

Jaroslav Osička is one of the leading lights of the Moravian natural wine movement, and a former professor at the local wine college. He’s now joined by his son, Luboš at his small winery in Velké Bilovice, making what I call “natural wine plus”. Many people make natural wine and care about ecology and biodiversity. Not many leave out food for the deer, but then if there’s something a little more tasty than the grapes on the vines, whyever not! There certainly are, as I have seen, a lot of deer around Moravia’s vineyards. Not all winemakers, even natural winemakers, are so tolerant.

This is a relatively new wine from this address. I tasted the first vintage, I think, when I was at the domaine in August 2022. This is my first “bottle” since and not a week too soon. Riesling, Müller-Thurgau, Pinot Gris and Neuburger make up the blend. The name is an obvious pun on the Queen song, but it is well chosen. The wine is a rhapsody of fresh scents and flavours.

The bouquet is aromatic and floral. The palate is smooth, with a nice richness, balanced by freshness and a mineral texture. It is matured in neutral acacia barrels. Some have likened this to Chablis, but I think the floral scent element draws me away from that suggestion. For me, if anything, it’s more “Jura”, just a little, but actually I think it’s just itself. I really like this. I like their wines a lot anyway, but I’m going to buy this again, for sure, from the next available vintage.

Moravian Rhapsody cost c £20 from Basket Press Wines. Hopefully a 2023 vintage will become available soon?

Bugey Brut Nature 2021, Domaine D’Ici Là (Bugey, France)

I seem to be slowly working my way through this producer’s wines, this being my third different cuvée (I also have a bottle of Chardonnay in the cellar). I have an inexplicable soft spot for Bugey because I drank my first bottles, Bugey-Cerdon and Bugey Mondeuse, back in my late twenties. Bugey-Cerdon is a demi-sec, low alcohol, reddish-pink, sparkling wine which few seem to have similar feelings to my own in the UK, but it’s just so refreshing…and dessert-friendly. I do keep posting them here from time to time in the vain hope…

Florie Brunet and Adrien Bariol, the couple behind this domaine, started in 2017, are part of a wave of newer and often young producers who are shaking up a region which is tiny, obscure, and was almost obsolete. I say region, but you probably know it’s a region of two halves. The northern half looks towards The Jura for partial inspiration, whilst the southern part looks more towards Savoie.

D’Ici Là is at Groslée-St-Benoît, which sits just above the Rhône Valley, not far from Marestel, so is close to Savoie. Marestel, of course, has its own sparkling wine tradition. This cuvée blends a range of local red and white varieties, vinified en blanc, and aged in bottle on lees for eighteen months. It is bottled with zero dosage, which makes this quite linear and lean, even after some bottle age. I still like it a lot, for its mineral texture and poise. It’s a serious traditional method wine that might taste a bit softer with more post-disgorgement ageing, but don’t let that make you hold back.

This came from Spry Wines (Edinburgh) through UK agent Modal Wines and cost a very reasonable £36 for the quality. Modal also has in stock an Amphora Mondeuse, a Gamay, two Altesse, an orange wine blend and the Chardonnay I have (called Lithos) from the same domaine. It’s the largest selection of one domaine’s Bugey I have seen in the UK. I’m very happy to see Modal shares my passion and belief.

There are plenty of Champagne alternatives coming onto the UK market. By that I don’t mean “lookalikes” (with respect to many fine English sparkling wines made from the Champagne varieties), rather sparkling wines that taste different. Some come from Germany, some from Alsace. Maybe take a little look at Bugey too. £36 is not bad for a good bottle-fermented, traditional method bottle of bubbles.