Maurer - Crazy Lud Red 2021 (750ml)

We aspire to be as natural and authentic as possible in the production of grape and wine, and the wines born in this spirit tell a lot about their production site, yet every drop of wine contains our family’s history, and the last 3000 years.” — Oszkár Maurer

The people

When we first visited Oszkár Maurer in 2015, we had to meet just over the border in Hungary at a restaurant because our rental car wouldn’t allow us to enter Serbia. Insert politics here. He only had a few wines to show and it was more about what’s to come than what he had at that moment. Since then we’ve visited multiple times, walked through his Kadarka planted in 1880 among many other incredible vineyards from the turn of the century, and his wife Irene has cooked some of the best food on any of our trips.
We’ve also witnessed his plans from 2015 come to life. Plans like expanding his production into the Fruška Gora, opening a tasting room/restaurant, and redefining what many of these nearly forgotten grapes taste like. Despite all the new things, he’s always keeping a close eye on the traditions of both his grandparents and the region's 2000+ years of documented winemaking history.
[Kadarka]
Eric and Oszkár holding a piece of the 1880 Kadarka
Five years later he has more SKUs than we can count, experiments abound, and every single core wine is better. Where before all his labels were the same, now many of his labels feature the art of children from his village (ie Kövidinka) and or reflect his fascination with the cosmos (ie Orion). His aesthetic and philosophy are starting to permeate everything above and beyond the vineyards and cellar.
The Maurer family has been producing wine for four generations. It was during the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in the 19th century that they moved from Salzburg to the southern part of the Kingdom of Hungary. They now farm 15 acres of land. 6 hectares in the Serbian wine region of Szabadka directly south of the Hungarian-Serbian border, and another 10 acres in the Fruška Gora mountain district in Syrmia, Serbia, located 40 miles away from Belgrade and bordered by the Danube River to the north.
For many years, Oszkár has also been helping other regional winemakers get their productions off of the ground in terms of mentorship, using equipment, storage and ultimately fostering a larger community of like-minded people to do something special.

Vineyards Technically Maurer is in the Subotičko – Horgoškoj region in northern Serbia, but it was formerly a part
of Hungary’s Csongrád up until 1920. The population is mostly Hungarian and viticulture knows no borders, the grapes see no line in the sand. Names of grapes and places are therefore constantly changing from Serbian to Hungarian and vice-versa. Everything should be considered interchangeable and fluid. Oszkár farms about 6 hectares here including the oldest known Kadarka vineyard in the world planted in 1880 in addition to other plantings in 1912 and older plots of Kövidinka from 1925. The rest of the plantings include grapes like Olaszrizling, Slankamenka, Ezerjó, Kadarka and Kékfrankos. There’s also a smattering of international varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir as well.

Oszkár also has 9 hectares in the Srem region a little further south. Hungarians called this area Szerém, the Croatians Srijem (part of it still spills into Croatia), and long before that the Romans called it Syrmia. The Roman Emperor Probus was born here and devoted a lot of his time to growing grapes. Illyrians and Celts lived here as well. The main feature, apart from the Danube River, is the Fruška Gora Mountain. Once an island in the Pannonian Sea, the soil is volcanic with a marine layer. Some call it the “holy mountain” or “Serbian Athos” because at one point there were over 30 monasteries of which 16 still stand today. It’s also the first national park in Serbia. Needless to say, there is something special about this place and winegrowing is documented back to the 1200s.

Painting in broad strokes, the Subotičko is largely defined by sandy soils and old vines, and the Szerémség by volcanic soils heavily influenced by the Danube River. Everything is farmed organically with zero absorbable chemicals. High density stake trained vines are the most typical and cover crops are natural. Everything is worked by hand or with the help of horses. Harvest is managed with local labor and the help of family and friends.

Winemaking Everything is handpicked in small bins and all fermentations are spontaneous (primary and secondary). The use of older oak, small and large format is paramount. There are no additives to any of the wines apart from SO2 at bottling for select wines. Maurer basically has two tiers: Rege and Maurer. The Rege wines have low SO2 (25-40ppm) and the Maurer line is zero compromise with zero additions of any kind. Wines are typically only racked once before bottling and everything is bottled unfiltered.

Wine Notes: “Lud” means Goose in Hungarian and Crazy in Serbian. There’s an old Hungarian expression, “Ha lúd, legyen kövér!” that literally translates to “If it’s a goose, let it be fat.” In other words, if you’re going to go big, go big in all respects. This pretty much sums up this wine. This is a mixed field blend with 1-2 days of maceration and relatively short 6 months of aging in tank. It’s a table in the best possible use of that term. The Grašac is the foundation, the Bakator and Slánkamenka add texture and weight, the Szeremi Zöld acidity and aromatics and the Tamjanika drives home said aromatics. Picked ripe at 10.5% alcohol, it’s a celebration of local grapes done in a way that everyone can enjoy and afford to drink everyday. Bottled unfined and unfiltered by gravity with zero additions.