The Moric Estate

"I believe the world of wine is so fed up with uniform wines, produced with the goal of achieving a maximum of points in a tasting and not with the motivation of creating from the raw materials that are at disposal, namely soil, climate and varietal, a product that is singular, because of the fact that it can only grow in this one place.

Multi-layered, expressive, maybe even mysterious but certainly delicate, those are the attributes that have allowed wine to exhilarate men for centuries.

An ancient cultural artifact, that under the influence of capitalism with all its facets runs the risk of deteriorating to a mere industrial product. Fast money creates fast wines and there it is the fast wine to go with our fast food.

No friend of wine really wants this and even the so called wine industry won't want it anymore once they realize how they have shot themselves in the foot." Roland Velich

David Schildknecht, the Austrian specialist for Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, describes Roland Velich and his Moric wines this way: "Roland Velich is no longer working with his brother Heinz at the family estate in Apetlon, but is pursuing his own dream, working with old vines in the heart of “Blaufrankisch country” – Mittelburgenland, specifically Lutzmannsburg and Neckenmarkt.
(Only his winery is located in Grosshoflein.)

His are wines in a style you will not encounter anywhere else in Austria: Blaufrankisch vinified as if it were Grand Cru Burgundy, and from hillsides (including terraces) and pre-clonal vines the like of which you will not find being cultivated in most of Mittelburgenland. One sip is an Oz experience (and I don’t mean Aussie, mates!). From his dreams to his vines, to his vinification, to his retro label, Velich is in a world of his own. He calls his project “Blaufrankisch Unplugged” (and Moric – the derivation of which I shall explain another time – is pronounced like “Moritz”). "