Weingut Tement: South Styrian Chardonnay at its Peak
Tement's site-designated wines, which are matured for a long time on the lees, are anything but simple, easy to understand or spontaneously accessible wines. Even many professionals find them almost off-putting in their youth.
Stephan Reinhard, robertparker.com
Weingut Tement, Morillon, Ried Grassnitzburg 2019
£215 per 6 bottle case in bond
Weingut Tement, Morillon, Ried Sulz 2019
£135 per 6 bottle case in bond
Weingut Tement, Morillon, Ried Sulz 2020
£140 per 6 bottle case in bond
Weingut Tement, Morillon, Ried Zieregg 2020
£360 per 6 bottle case in bond
Every so often, a handful of wines remain quietly tucked away in our reserves long enough to reveal what they are truly capable of. This small offer of mature Morillons from Weingut Tement falls firmly into that category.
These are residual stocks, comprising just a few cases of four different wines that have now reached a point where their qualities are impossible to ignore. These wines have benefited enormously from several years in bottle. The precision, purity and mineral detail that define Tement's wines have become more integrated, more nuanced and, above all, more compelling.
As highlighted by Stephan Reinhardt in the quote above, when first released, the Tement wines, with their pristine purity and profound minerality, can seem a touch bracing. Time has softened their edges without diminishing their precision. They now convey a wonderful sense of place, combining subtle richness with remarkable freshness and definition.
We hope to be tasting the latest vintages from Tement in the near future, but before doing so we felt it would be a shame not to offer these mature bottles, which have finally come into their own after a prolonged period of bottle age.
For many wine lovers, Austria is synonymous with Riesling and Grüner Veltliner. Yet neither variety is the natural star of Südsteiermark. Situated in the far south of Austria, directly on the Slovenian border, this is a markedly different landscape. The region enjoys a warmer, more humid climate than the country's celebrated eastern appellations, with significant diurnal shifts and complex limestone-rich soils combining to maintain freshness and acidity. Such conditions are remarkably well suited to Sauvignon Blanc and to Chardonnay, known locally as Morillon.
The Tement family has spent decades demonstrating exactly what these varieties can achieve in this corner of Europe. The estate is widely regarded as one of Austria's finest white wine producers, particularly for its single-vineyard expressions from the dramatic slopes around Zieregg. Today the wines are farmed biodynamically, harvested by hand and raised with extraordinary patience. The result is a style that marries Burgundian depth and structure with a distinct South Styrian identity: cool, mineral, focused, and incredibly long-lived.
Critics have long recognised Tement's achievements. The estate's flagship Morillons regularly receive scores in the mid-to-high 90s from international critics. Writing on the 2019 Zieregg Morillon, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate described it as 'mind-blowing and without rivals in all of South Styria,' praising its purity, energy and tension. James Suckling highlighted its concentration, chalky minerality and remarkable freshness.
One detail that has always appealed to us is Tement's use of a glass stopper rather than a traditional cork. Aside from the elegant presentation, the choice eliminates the risk of cork taint and provides exceptional consistency from bottle to bottle. For wines intended to age for a decade or more, it makes perfect sense, and it further demonstrates the family’s wish to preserve the spell-binding purity of their wines after extended bottle ageing.
Weingut Tement, Morillon, Ried Grassnitzburg 2019
£215 per 6 bottle case in bond
94 points, Stephan Reinhardt, robertparker.com, September 2023
The coolish and precise 2019 Ried Grassnitzberg Morillon is from the northeast-facing plateau planted with French Chardonnay genetics in the early 1980s. Vinified in used Burgundian pièces for a year and another 12 months in tank, the wine offers a precise, fresh and coolish bouquet with lemon leaf and oil aromas. The wine is vital and fresh on the mouth-filling and tickling palate, very elegant and refined as well as lush and generous, with a precise and lemon-bitter finish. This is not Morillon but really textured and very elegant Chardonnay, though I wouldn't go so far to say it is a Burgundian white wine from Styria. It is gorgeous in any case. 12.5% stated alcohol, Drink 2023-2043
Weingut Tement, Morillon, Ried Sulz 2019
£135 per 6 bottle case in bond
93 points, Stephan Reinhardt, robertparker.com, December 2021
The barrel-fermented premier cru (1STK) 2019 Morillon Ried Sulz opens with a fresh, intense, yeasty and slightly oaky bouquet that seems deeper, toastier and more intense than the corresponding Pinot Blanc (Weisser Burgunder). On the palate, this is a rich yet vital, vibrantly fresh and sustainably structured Chardonnay from coolish calcareous marl soils located in a warm site. An impressive wine that needs a few years to open up and flow free. 12.5% stated alcohol. Drink 2025-2040
Weingut Tement, Morillon, Ried Sulz 2020
£140 per 6 bottle case in bond
93 points, Stephan Reinhardt, robertparker.com, May 2023
From blue and brown chalky marls in a warm, southwest-facing cru, the 2020 Ried Sulz Morillon 1STK opens with a clear, fresh and aromatic, slightly iodine-inflected nose of candied fruit aromas. Round and saline on the palate, this is a lush but refined and fine, salty-finishing Morillon in an accessible style. It was vinified in pièces and foudres for a year and for another year in stainless steel. 12.5% stated alcohol. Drink 2023-2045
Weingut Tement, Morillon, Ried Zieregg 2020
£360 per 6 bottle case in bond
94+ points, Stephan Reinhardt, robertparker.com, September 2022
Tement's Chardonnay (a.k.a. Morillon) 2020 Morillon Ried Zieregg GSTK offers a deep, dense, very elegant and aromatic yet highly serious nose with ripe fruit and fine yeast and iodine notes. Juicy on the palate, but also exceedingly mineral, this is a punchy, highly complex, vital and elegant Chardonnay from coral limestone. The wine is still yeasty, but substantial and enormously saline, developing terrific, complex length. It is still very young and unlikely to drink with pleasure before 2026. 13% stated alcohol. Drink 2026-2042