It is, some say, the time when magic is strongest … the summer solstice, when the fairy folk come and dance among us, flowers are woven into crowns, bonfires are lit and love charms are placed under pillows. In two days’ time, on 21 June, the summer solstice of the northern hemisphere splits the year in two with the longest day, and on 24 June countries right across Europe celebrate the neolithic festival of Midsummer. Ancient folklore meets ancient folk traditions, from gathering of herbs before sunrise to leaping over fires at midnight.
Whatever your stance on folklore and fairies, it is surely worth marking the longest day of the year, even celebrating it. And I have a wine that I think has a little magic of its own.
Meinklang’s Prosa Rosé Frizzante is like a mouthful of summer. It’s the deep pink of sunrise, the red-pink of sunset. It smells of cherries and roses and tastes of fresh strawberries. It’s scrumptious and joyful and because it’s made in the méthode ancestrale, it has a soupçon of sweetness and is very slightly cloudy from not being filtered. What I wrote was, ‘So much damn energy! Perhaps there is a soupçon of residual sugar, but it works. I love, love, love this crazy little wine.’ No need to go dancing around Stonehenge at dawn.
The wine is special in lots of ways. The Michlits family, who own and run Meinklang, must farm one of the most environmentally rich and thriving ecosystems in Austria (if not Europe). They are organic, biodynamic and regenerative. Their polyculture farm is located in the middle of the World Heritage Site of the Neusiedler See National Park, on the eastern side of Lake Neusiedl, right on the border with the Hungarian Lowlands. As well as grapevines, they grow heritage wheat varieties and grains in rotation, cover crops of native herbs and flowers, and orchards of Topaz apple trees (which are naturally resistant to pests and diseases so don’t need spraying). They raise cattle, horses, Mangalitsa pigs, sheep and chickens, composting the manure to feed the fertility of the soil. Their vineyards are broken up by 27 eco-islands of fruit and nut trees, elderberry bushes and more than 300 plant species, populated by hundreds of species of insects, birds and small wild animals.
Co-winemaker Angela Michlits first made this wine for her wedding to Werner Michlits, specifically because she wanted something light (it’s only 10.5% alcohol), pretty, fun to drink and delicious. It’s 50% Zweigelt, with Pinot Noir, St Laurent and Blaufränkisch making up the rest of the blend. The grapes are all hand-picked, pressed after a short maceration, and spontaneously fermented in stainless steel before being bottled for the secondary fermentation.
It is truly a wine that celebrates life, in every possible way. Get up before dawn, grab a bottle, and sip it while you watch the sunrise on the longest day of the year. It’s not an ‘every day’, after all!
The 2024 is imported to the UK by Vintage Roots, where you can pick it up for a VGV £15.50, and it’s also available from various independent merchants in the UK. In the US, Meinklang is imported by Zev Rovine Selections. It also can be found in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands and Poland.
We’ve published reviews for more than 60 sparkling rosés this year so far, and if you have an appetite for more unusual rosés, this particular wine was part of a huge rosé round-up that we published last week.
