The first Solera-Completer: This is the world’s first taste from the Obrecht winery

class = “sc-cffd1e67-0 iQNQmc”>

If you haven’t heard of the Completer grape variety before, you’re probably like most of us. Behind this resounding name lies an extremely rare, ancient Swiss grape variety that grows on only five hectares in this country. This corresponds to approximately seven football fields of 68×105 metres.

The majority of Completer vines can be found in the viticultural canton of Graubeğen. With its unique acidity, tart white wines last for many years and develop wonderful dried fruit aromas and a distinctive spice over time. The Obrecht winemaking couple from Jenins GR cultivate the largest Completer vineyard area of ​​just under one hectare. Traditional white wines are no longer bottled by vintage as usual, but simply as a blend of several vintages.

First person to complete Solera passed baptism of fire

Blick was the first publication to have the opportunity to taste the new wine creation. We asked the winemaking couple how the idea came about: “Not while drinking tea, but after drinking a few glasses of wine!” Completer’s specificity tends to vary; This means that yields vary more from year to year depending on the varieties grown. And our ancestors always only partially bottled the complementary barrels and then refilled them with the new harvest. “It’s a permanent system that fascinates us.”

This procedure is also known as the solera system and is used in the production of sherry, among other things. Obrechts’ first Solera Completer includes wines from 2018 to 2022. After harvest, the biodynamically certified grapes are spontaneously fermented and ripened for a year in barrages made of oak and acacia wood, and finally further ripened in 220-litre clay balls. Individual vintages then move from clayball to clayball, eventually bottling Solera-Completer once a year.

So how does Solera-Completer taste now? Streaked like an arc and extremely elegant, the flexible white shows impressive depth. Containing only 13.5 percent alcohol, Solera-Completer is significantly fresher and less powerful than other wines in this variety. It also has the potential to become more complex with age. The only downside: According to initial estimates, only around 4,000 bottles are filled each year.

Source : Blick