Wine First

Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following... Up Norway curates Norwegian travel experiences in the footsteps of "New Scandinavian Cooking."

♪ No, take me home ♪ ♪ Take me home where I belong ♪ Vgan, the full taste of chocolate.

♪ ♪ [ Singing indistinctly ] ♪ This is a story of adventure, understanding that every step of the journey is vital.

This is the story of Evergood.

♪ My name is Liora Levi.

And I am Yolanda Añó.

Wine is my passion in life.

I am a sommelier traveling the world.

And I am a food enthusiast.

In each episode, we will travel through the most beautiful wine regions of Europe, selecting three wines that define the area.

And we will bring those wines to very talented chefs and challenge them to prepare amazing dishes based off the wine.

Will the chefs succeed in making a dish of such a quality that it matches the wine?

It all remains to be seen, as we put wine first.

We are in beautiful Austria to discover the core of the country's wine and food culture.

And we are gonna visit beautiful places and also a lot of exciting people, right?

Absolutely.

Chef Harald Irka has taken the challenge to perfectly pair the wines with ingredients that we find.

Are you excited?

Yes, I am.

Let's see what you can do with this.

We start our search in the southeastern part of the country, traveling to one of the most beautiful and romantic parts of Austria.

♪ The Sattler family runs a proper family winery.

It was started by the brother Hannes and Willi Sattler and is now run by Willi's sons Alexander and Andreas.

Yeah.

So, there's a lot to see here, so, Yolanda, if you want to, we can go in the vineyard, have a look around.

I would love to.

Maybe you join my brother?

Yeah.

So you can come with me.

Okay.

Cool.

Let's go.

Let's go.

♪ Sattlerhof is located on a steep hill with a great view of Southern Styria.

The family cultivates small portions of land with steep, challenging vineyards, focusing on organic wine-growing, sustainable treatment of the soil and of the wine.

This is steep.

Aah!

How beautiful.

Actually, this is a very normal hill for Steiermark.

When you go up there and you taste grapes from the very top of the steep hills, you actually get the minerality out of the soil.

The soil comes out the rock, comes out at the top, and this makes the wine very special, very unique inner taste.

So, this is a pinot gris.

And these grapes, they are starting to get ripe, but you can already feel the beauty of the -- of the taste in it.

They are delicious.

Yeah.

But you are right -- they are still acidic.

Exactly.

Acidity's something that we really like in Steiermark.

It gives a freshness, it gives an elegance to the wines so you can actually drink not just one bottle, maybe a couple of bottles.

So, the temperature is hot, and the wine, it becomes really refreshing and cool at the end, so... So it's quite important.

This is important for us, yeah.

The acidity is the backbone of the wine, so it gives it some balance and freshness.

I do my morning runs around here, so if you want to, you can join me to run up the hills.

Sure.

Let's see who has the stronger legs.

Let's go.

Yes!

[ Both laugh ] While Yolanda and Alexander work out in the vineyards, I'm learning how to roll big, heavy oak barrels.

Angle them the right way and you can handle them all by yourself.

♪ So, this is our grand cru or our Grosse Lage.

Pfarrweingarten is the name of the Cru.

Pfarrweingarten.

Pfarrweingarten, yeah.

There you go.

And this is morillon.

Morillon -- that would be a chardonnay, because here in Sudsteiermark, they call chardonnay morillon.

The reason we still call it morillon is because the wine style we do and also the climate we have is different from most of the other areas that you find chardonnay at.

So the wines are always elegant, good to drink, not these heavy, oaky wines.

This is just like you say -- it's elegant, it has a really nice, creamy texture to it, it's delicate, and a very nice acidity, I agree.

Yeah, thank you.

That's typical for the area.

Cheers.

Cheers.

Salud.

And so this is the perfect wine for this setting.

In Steiermark, we drink a fresh, a clear, precise and elegant sauvignon.

We sit on the top of the hill, and we just relax.

We see the nature.

So, what was it like to grow up in the vineyards?

To me, it always seemed natural to -- to be around the wines, to be in this area in Sudsteiermark.

So I feel this is home for me.

My father told me, when he was holding me, my hands, and I was only able to speak a few words, one of them was "morillon," which is the grape variety of chardonnay in our area.

[ Laughing ] Okay.

And so, he was holding me in his hands when he was surrounded by other winemakers in our cellar.

They were tasting through the wines.

And he gave me a glass of morillon without telling me what it is, because he knew this was the only word I could speak, and I was smelling as a small child and saying, like, "Morillon."

And the other winemakers went crazy, so this is one of the first words.

That's a great story.

Cheers.

[ Glasses clink ] It's been a fabulous day at the winery, and it's time to top it off by deciding which wine and ingredient to bring for Chef Harald Irka and his cooking challenge.

This is Sudsteiermark, so for us, it's the really, like, the heart of our family.

It's vineyards from different parcels -- a lot of flavor, lot of texture.

So very interesting wine for us.

Has a lot of these sauvignon aromas.

Okay.

I guess bottoms up, guys.

Yep.

Cheers.

Cheers.

Next up, Gamlitz, sauvignon blanc, also.

2018.

I'll pour a little bit less on the next one.

Well, not for me.

I'm good -- I'm good with the normal amount.

[ Chuckles ] [ Sniffs ] Delicious.

Here I am taste more this like a currant leaf.

You know, this really distinct aroma.

And this name, it's called Gamlitz.

Gamlitz is the name of the village we are in right now.

So it's from older wines.

It gets more tension from the soil and more of this white-pepper character, yes, so a lot of minerality in the wine.

Cheers.

Bottoms up, yeah.

I'm finished already.

[ Laughter ] I think we are a bit quicker.

[ Laughter ] Well, some people drink for quantity, some for quality, yeah?

And we do -- we do both, actually.

Go for both.

Drink in quality but in high quantities, you know?

[ Laughter ] So, this bottle I've really been looking forward to that.

It's the top wine, your Grand Cru.

The best vineyard for sauvignon blanc, at least.

Exactly.

So, like I was talking in the vineyards, for the parcel selection, so this is selected out of the very best parcel of our winery, and this parcel is called Konigsberg.

Konigsberg.

Oh, that is very good.

Yes, there you go.

It feels like my tongue is, like, curling around itself.

But you can really smell the complexity of this wine, the depth of this wine.

And which one to choose?

I love the crispiness and the freshness of the family project.

Yeah.

And I truly love the -- the Grand Cru.

I mean, the complexity, the -- But, in a way, that wine shines so much by itself.

What do you say?

Shall we let Harald do his magic with this wine?

I really would like to see what he can bring on the table with this wine.

And let's give him the challenge of pairing it with something with a blackcurrant leaf.

Exactly.

Don't know how he's gonna do that.

[ Laughter ] Well... So, he -- I'm sure he's creative, right?

Definitely.

We will leave it to him.

Well, cheers to that.

Cheers.

It is settled.

Sauvignon blanc and blackcurrant as the local ingredient.

Exciting.

We end our visit with an authentic Austrian dinner party.

We joined the entire Sattler family for traditional food and lots of tasty wine.

[ Cork pops ] And we have to look the part.

I feel like Heidi, and Yolanda looks like the eldest daughter of the von Trapp family.

Love the dirndl, love the wine, love the family.

To find our next wine and ingredient, we travel north to beautiful Burgenland and the wine region of Leithaberg, famous for its white wines, sweet wines, and full-bodied red wines.

And, boy, do I know where to go for that -- to a big Austrian celebrity, actually.

Leo Hillinger.

♪ Leo Hillinger is a famous entrepreneur whose heart beats for viticulture.

This area enjoys a microclimate of mild winters and long sunshine hours throughout the year.

Loam, sandy, and stony layers provide a unique soil condition for white, sparkling, and red wines made from the red pinot noir grape.

May I try one?

Yeah, please.

Taste one.

This is very important.

You know, we always taste the skins and the seed.

Very important.

It's a high acidity.

Mm-hmm.

That's very important later on, eh?

Yeah.

The high acidity, that's why we harvest it early.

That gets the acidity out of the grape.

Very important is, you can make red wine.

The seed has to be ripe.

And if the seed is ripe, you don't have tannins.

Ooh.

This one had... [ Both laugh ] Right.

Chew and chew.

Quite chewy.

Now the seed... I see the faces.

Mnh-mnh.

I'm not biting in the seed.

But you see, now the seed isn't ripe.

If you open a berry, you see the seed is green.

Yep.

Usually, the seed has to be really brown.

Mm, mm-hmm.

Now, that one's a little bit brown.

This is brown, yeah, yeah.

I want to taste that one.

But here is the green stuff.

Yeah.

This is better.

It's not that bitter.

No, it's not.

Mm-hmm.

It's a little better, but not bad.

Leo loves sports and competition.

And to let us know how hard work winemaking is, he challenges us to compete with him in grape treading.

So, ladies, the challenge starts now.

10 seconds till now.

One step in.

Another one.

Okay.

Two minutes.

♪ [ Laughter ] ♪ Over and out!

[ Laughing ] Everybody has to drink everything in one sip.

Oh, yeah, in one sip.

We'll taste it, that's for sure.

♪ Mmm.

This is super sweet.

Mmm.

I'm exhausted.

We have felt the grapes under our feet and tasted the juice.

Now I'm eager to taste the final product -- the wine.

It's time to choose our second wine and ingredient for Chef Irka.

Now, we have pinot gris.

And this is a grape burgundy.

It is a white wine.

It's powerful but not too powerful.

And the tannins are soft, ja.

Has a lot of this really nice, tropical, lush fruit to it.

Yellow fruit -- more mango or yellow peach.

Yes.

Here.

Here's pinot noir, Eveline.

This wine is, like, not the grand reserve.

But the quality level is grand reserve.

Very classical pinot noir color.

It has a little bit of the spicy notes to it and some flowery notes.

I'm not sure if it's roses or violets, but there's something floral here.

And this is the last one.

This is a very typical kind of variety from Austria.

This is the Zweigelt.

This is a cross between St. Laurent and blaufrankisch.

And this wine represents our region.

It's -- It's almost like a blue, purplish color, right?

Right, purple.

Absolutely.

Tastes like herbs, fresh herbs.

Yeah.

I think I made up my mind.

To me, this wine, Zweigelt, it had the punch that I like in a wine.

I love that it's a local grape variety, and since we're in Austria, I think -- I'm sure that the chef can come up with a local dish that will match the wine from the local grape.

Absolutely agree.

To find her ingredient, Yolanda chooses... [ Gasps ] Steinpilz.

Yes, stone mushrooms.

They are growing in the forests, on the stones.

Mmm.

I'm so happy you chose them, because, for me, this earthiness of the -- of the steinpilz -- yes?

-- it goes so well with the -- with the character of the Zweigelt.

Absolutely.

Cheers!

Cheers.

Salud.

Leo's Zweigelt has got my taste buds buzzing, and it made me curious to dig deeper into one of its components, the popular blaufrankisch grape.

I know exactly where to go for those types of wines -- to Gernot and Heike Heinrich and their babies... [ Sheep bleats ] ...the sheep.

I mean, I've been to Burgenland before, but seeing your vineyards like this, it's absolutely gorgeous.

These grapes, they look more or less ready for picking.

The local grape variety, the most common grape variety here in Burgenland is...?

It is blaufrankisch for me.

It's, let's say, the king of our red wines.

Fine grains tannin.

They're elegant tannin with high acidity.

So, blaufranisch is really a late-ripening grape with a thick skin.

Ah!

Look what I have for you.

Nice.

You know, wherever I go in the vineyards, I like to taste the soil.

Just to get a little bit of a feel of the minerality that I can hopefully expect from the wine later on.

You can see, even, the iron on it and also -- Oh, yeah, the red.

A higher content of potassium, which is balancing the wine.

We joined the pickers who are harvesting.

You want a seat?

Squeeze the grapes with my butt?

I don't think so.

[ Both laugh ] Gernot runs the vineyards biodynamically.

He views the vineyards as one solid organism, a self-sustaining ecosystem in which each portion of the vineyard contribute to the next, where natural materials, soil, and animal compost sustain the vineyard.

Chemical fertilizers and pesticides are forbidden.

Very ecofriendly.

What's this?

Yeah, it's sheep wool.

It should protect the young shoots against the deer.

Oh, so you plant it here.

Yeah, we put it here.

The deer doesn't like the smell of sheep wool in the vineyard.

You farm this not only organically but biodynamically, which means that you use only natural teas made from herbs to spray the leaves.

There's lots of animals and insects and life in the vineyard.

Yes, correct.

I think it's a very holistic way of looking at farming or producing wine.

I agree.

Well said.

The blaufrankisch grapes bring pickers from all over Europe together as they work all summer long with one major passion in common -- wine.

My kind of company.

Gernot views his wines as living entities, and it's so fun to follow their life cycle into the busy winery.

The journey from grape to wine is fascinating and tasty.

From being harvested in the vineyards to being cleaned, crushed, and pressed on their way to fermentation in the cellars, where old ceramic amphoras are used just like they did in ancient times.

[ Tapping ] I love the sound of this.

How does the wine taste different in the amphora as opposed to the vats?

If you're using a new oak barrel, like, let's say the same size -- 1,000 liter -- you have this smoky aromas in the wine.

And this is always neutral and supports the freshness and elegance of the wine.

There is a habitat for all the microorganisms because it's so porous, so they can live in there.

It's a complicated process, but in the end, it tastes much better and more complex if you do it in these vessels or in oak.

So that's why this is more a living organism compared to a stainless-steel tank.

It shows that wine is really a living thing.

Wine is not just grape juice.

It actually -- It gets born, it has a life, and if you don't drink it in time, it dies.

Yeah.

That must be one of the seven deadly sins, I think -- not to drink wine until it's gone.

Our trip takes us to the core of the winery, where all the bottles are stored -- the wine cellar.

Hey!

[ Speaking indistinctly ] Wow.

Look at this room.

So much beautiful bottles.

I'm getting quite thirsty.

Me too.

But this time, let me choose the wine.

You can be the judge.

Okay.

Give me a bit of trust.

Okay.

[ Humming ] How long is it gonna take?

I'm looking for something special.

I'm thirsty!

Okay, okay, okay, okay.

Let's see if you agree.

But blaufrankisch Alter Berg.

Not a bad choice, actually.

It's time to decide our final wine and ingredient.

First up is the blaufrankisch Alter Berg, 2007.

Coming from the old wines.

It's limestone soil, so you taste the little grapes and the thick skin.

I think it's still there.

There is that vibrant tannin and the acidity and the very long finish.

Very nice structure and texture to it.

Limestoney texture.

You know, wherever I go in the vineyards, I always like to taste the soil.

Gives you a dry palate.

Not from tannin but from minerals, I feel.

That's how I experience minerals.

That's right.

Whenever she describes it, I honestly think I am getting a bit curious about licking a rock.

Just kidding there.

[ Laughs ] And this is a younger vintage -- blaufrankisch Leithaberg, 2016.

Ooh, the color is already completely different.

It's ruby red.

I would say.

And the other one is much more purplish.

The acidity is beautiful.

It's, like, super sharp.

A little bit of refreshing acidity would be really nice.

I really agree with you.

So, are you comfortable with showing this one to Harald Irka and for him to make a dish for it?

I totally agree.

Good.

You know your wines, you know your area, animals, herbs, living here.

What will be, like, one ingredient that you will give the chef a challenge to use?

Blackberries.

With sweetness and high acidity at the same time.

I think that could fit perfect with this wine.

Perfect I.D.

card for this wine.

I agree.

[ Glasses clink ] We have searched far and wide for our wines, and now the search has ended.

It is time to present the wines for Chef Harald Irka and start the tasting ceremony.

Here, each wine producer will taste and decide if Harald is successful in matching three local ingredients with the three chosen wines.

We start off with the sauvignon blanc from Sattlerhof.

What do you have here for our sauvignon blanc?

I'm going to prepare kind of a ceviche with this local char.

Instead of using lemon, which is very common for ceviche, we're using the unripe gooseberry juice, which is very acidic.

And I'm going to combine it with the oil made of these blackcurrant leaves.

Harald is working.

So we chose to go with a blackcurrant-leaf oil.

What are your expectations for the dish?

I have to say, I don't know the oil yet, but it sounds vibrant.

Vibrant is the word.

Harald combines all kinds of flavors in this ceviche dish.

The natural oil from the blackcurrant leaves, mixed with caviar, onions, and unripe gooseberry juice makes an interesting combo.

I cannot wait for Alex's reaction to the dish.

Will the dish combine well with the deep fruity qualities of sauvignon blanc?

Guten appetit?

Guten appetit.

The Sattler brothers are specific about their wine.

I'm eager to hear whether Alexander feels the dish does it justice.

For the second wine, Leo Hillinger's Zweigelt, Chef Harald creates an elegant dish based on a...poached egg?

And to top it off, he chooses not to use the porcini that Yolanda chooses from the area but truffle.

I need to touch your truffles.

If I may?

Sure.

It's much better than Chanel No.

5.

I will put it behind my ears.

I'll go hopping around through life.

Yeah, it's a real special ingredient.

So, you keep the fat of the salmon out -- Yes, and all the skin, put it in a blender, and then you have this flavorful liquid, crispy chicken skin.

He combines the poached eggs with crispy sweet corn and adds the sauce.

For earthiness, he adds grated truffles sprinkled on top.

But will it work with the wine?

I think it's always very bold to pair eggs with wine, so I'm super excited about this.

Well, Yolanda loves truffles, but will Leo be satisfied?

It's hard to read his expressions.

For the third and final wine, Heinrich Blaufrankisch, Harald chooses meat.

It has been dry-aged for over six months.

It's from an old dairy cow that was almost 15 years old.

That's a collar we can see here, right?

And after six months of dry-aging, we put it in beeswax.

Oh.

So just to keep the moisture inside.

And it's also kind of fermenting, and it adds a very special taste.

Well, I really thought it was a piece of cheddar for some burgers.

[ Chuckles ] Last but not least, here we have our homemade blackberry balsamic vinegar, which adds a nice acidity to the dish.

I would expect a little piece of meat, perfect quality, maybe deer.

Hmm.

Not venison, but Harald uses beef from a 15-year-old dairy cow, aged in beeswax.

He removes the beeswax and grills the juicy meat to perfection.

Then, he makes a balsamic vinegar of Yolanda's chosen ingredient -- blackberries -- which adds a nice acidity to the dish.

♪ Gernot treats his wine like living beings.

Will he think the dish pairs well with his precious liquids?

The meals are consumed, and it's time for the final verdicts.

We start off with Alexander.

I can see we are from the same region.

You like acidity, you like freshness and vibrance in the dishes.

Acidity's something that we really like in Steiermark.

It gives a freshness, it gives an elegance to the wines.

I believe that fits our style of wine very much so.

The char, I felt the smooth texture in combination with the poppy seeds, which were cracking on the palate, so it was a really great combination.

To be honest, it was a bit scary about the unripe gooseberry juice, because I know how acidic it can be, yeah?

But, well, the sauvignon blanc really coped with it, so I think you did it beautifully.

So, yeah, definitely, I -- I was in -- in my foodie heaven.

Thanks for the dish.

It's perfect.

You're welcome.

It's time for Leo.

This is -- Everything was amazing.

We could taste everything is from your heart, and you -- you really know what you're doing.

The skin is so -- so much flavor.

And, also, the combination with the eggs and also with the seeds and it was nearly perfect on that.

Thank you so much for that.

Thank you.

Last but not least, Gernot.

I really enjoyed the acidity and the pureness of the meat.

And I found also the sweetness and acidity at the same time in the wine.

And, also, the fruit, I think, in the blackberry in the dish and the blackberry in the wine.

Blackberries with sweetness and high acidity at the same time, I think that could fit perfect to this wine.

Was a perfect pairing, so it was a great combination.

Thank you.

You're really a very creative chef, like an artist.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Well, I thought this was amazing.

'Cause a dry-aged dairy cow?

A 15-year-old cow, and you made it taste like -- wow.

It melted in my mouth.

And when I saw the -- the raw piece with the beeswax around it, I was like -- You were saying that -- "It looks like a piece of cheddar."

Yeah.

But compliments, kudos.

This was fantastic.

Above all expectations.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much.

We've had an amazing trip through two of the biggest wine regions of Austria -- Styria and Burgenland -- showing the wide diversity of fine wine this country has to offer.

What a ride.

♪ For more inspiration, visit us at winefirsttv.com.

Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following... Up Norway curates Norwegian travel experiences in the footsteps of "New Scandinavian Cooking."

♪ No, take me home ♪ ♪ Take me home where I belong ♪ Vgan, the full taste of chocolate.

♪ ♪ [ Singing indistinctly ] ♪ This is a story of adventure, understanding that every step of the journey is vital.

This is the story of Evergood.

♪