Merlot Reserve
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2027
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roasted duck, grilled ribeye steak, slow-cooked venison stew
✨ Technical Specifications
Hailing from the historic wine-growing village of Gumpoldskirchen in Austria's Thermenregion within Niederosterreich, Weingut Krug has a family winemaking heritage dating back to 1746. While the name Krug is globally synonymous with Champagne, in Austria it represents Gustav Krug's exceptional estate, renowned for mastering both indigenous whites and powerful, structured red wines. The Merlot Reserve thrives in the unique microclimate of the Thermenregion, where warm Pannonian winds and heavy loam, clay, and shell-limestone soils provide the perfect conditions for this Bordeaux variety to achieve optimal ripeness. Aged meticulously in French oak barriques, this Reserve bottling showcases a velvety texture, ripe dark forest fruits, subtle chocolate notes, and a refined structure that reflects the estate's commitment to quality.
🍾 About the Producer
Weingut Krug has cultivated vineyards in the historic Lower Austrian village of Gumpoldskirchen since 1746. Located within the Thermenregion—traditionally regarded as the Burgundy of Austria due to its shared latitude and calcareous terroir—the estate oversees approximately 35 hectares of prime vines. Helmed by winemaker Gustav Krug alongside his family, the winery couples centuries-old heritage with modernized cellar facilities constructed amidst the vineyards in 1998. Viticulture focuses on near-natural, sustainable vineyard stewardship across loamy, limestone-rich soils warmed by Pannonian basin airflows. In the cellar, Krug favors meticulous fruit selection and controlled oak maturation. The producer is renowned both for regional benchmark white grapes—most notably indigenous Rotgipfler and Zierfandler—and for its cellar-aged reserves and cuvées such as Die Vollendung, Die Versuchung, and single-vineyard bottlings from Ried Rasslerin. Krug crafts wines distinguished by structural richness, concentrated aromatics, and prolonged aging potential.
🍇 Grape Varieties
Merlot
🍷 Alcohol By Volume (ABV)
13.5-14.5%