Birdscape Pink 2023 is a natural wine crafted by highly-sought after producer Christian Tschida, in the Burgenland region in Austria. This light red wine at 12% is made with mostly Blaufränkisch grapes, but this 2023 vintage sees an addition of Pinot Noir, and a beautiful new label design (do you see the birds?)
Tasting Christian Tschida Birdscape Pink
No added Sulphur in this lovely Austrian wine, which feels vibrant and alive, ideally best served chilled. This wine is a rosé in some ways, and a light red in many others.
Expect a slight smokey and flinty touch in this wine, alongside tart red berries, plums and herbs. It’s somewhat savoury, and you question if is a rosé or a red… we think it’s a red only from slight tannic appeal but it really is questionable, and asking Christian Tschida about this - it seems exactly what he wants you to think…. We love it!
How is Birdscape Pink M made?
Grown on slate and limestone soils to the west of Lake Neusiedel in the legendary Leithaberg region (which is one of the oldest known winegrowing sites in the world, actually, with some evidence pointing to vines being grown here from the 8th century BC!) Birdscape Pink is called Pink.. but acts a little more like a red.
The grapes for Birdscape Pink are carefully destemmed and crushed by feet before fermenting spontaneously, of course, in large, neutral wooden barrels for around a year.
Winemaker's Note
The vivid phantasy of a small, colourful plot, high up on the verge of the forest finding its essence in a wine that has its very own definition: light and fresh like a rosé, then deep and highly aromatic like a red. As numerous as the birds on it’s label, as vast are the varietals in the plot for this wine: a mixed field with over 20 different cépages and Blaufränkisch as the base layer, nestled on a terroir mix of bedrock and limestone. Harvested all together and fermented with Christian’s secret Pink Maceration Method they result in grape juice that can’t be put into a box. The bright, brilliant red color and the taste embody with every sip what Christian has always sought: a wine between rosé and red. This idea of bright, vibrant lightness of a rosé with the body and power of an ‚adolescent‘ red is not to be achieved in the cellar, but rather in the vineyard.
Age of Vines: up to 60 years
Vineyard: Mixed field, warm schist on the top of the hill facing the forest, cool
limestone towards the lower end of the garden facing the sun and the lake
Grapes: Blaufränkisch + several different varietals, predominantly red
Making of: Grapes are hand harvested and left to a long maceration of several
weeks and light extraction following Christian’s „Pink Maceration Method“. After
gentle pressing the juice ferments in large oak barrels with indigenous yeast and no
racking. It is bottled without sulfur, fining or filtering.
