We woke up a bit early to check out of Weingut Tement, but before doing so had a tour of the facility with Monika Tement (the wife of Armin Tement, who, with his brother Stefan, is the current winemaker and proprietor of the estate). It was rainy and damp outside, so we couldn’t go through the vineyards. Thankfully I was able to get some photos of the beautiful Zieregg vineyard yesterday when the weather was nicer.

Südsteiermark – The stunning panorama of Ried Zieregg at Weingut Tement

Even though we weren’t able to go through the vineyards together due to the rains, Monika improvised and shared so much incredible information about their land and winemaking practices. In their cellar, there is a portion where there isn’t a concrete wall, and one can see the open soil that comprises the Zeiregg STK Grand Cru vineyard site (so… very… cool!).

Südsteiermark – inside Weingut Tement’s cellar with the wall exposing the soils of Ried Zieregg

Before leaving the cellar, we were fortunate enough to see brothers Armin and Stefan Tement checking the status of fermentation of many of the wines that were in-barrel. They were testing the sugar content, alcohol content, and various other components of the wine using instruments designed specifically for the tasks. Monika also told us about the story of the Cellar Cat that, according to lore, will choose the best barrel of wine and sit atop it. In this case, it chose wisely (or, truthfully, whomever placed this cat statue on the barrel chose wisely) by selecting a lovely barrel of Zieregg Grosse Lage STK Sauvignon Blanc.

Südsteiermark – the cellar cat chooses his barrel of Ried Zieregg Sauvignon Blanc at Weingut Tement

We got in the car and headed out for what was the longest drive of the trip. Going from Südstiermark back to Budapest was supposed to be about 3.5 hours, but yet again, the GPS that we rented with the car was TERRIBLE. That problem, coupled with traffic, road construction, poor road conditions, and nearly running out of fuel resulted in the trip taking nearly 5.5 hours. We missed the afternoon wine and piano reception at the Aria Hotel, but at least didn’t miss out on the massage that I had scheduled. We had to cut it a little short as to not interfere with our dinner plans, but we still got to enjoy it.

Budapest – The custom-built grand piano in the music garden at the Hotel Aria

After the massage, we freshened up and walked to our dinner reservations at Aszu, which was just two blocks over from the hotel. We started our meal by sharing a summer salad with carrots, and radishes, along with a Hungarian chicken pancake dish called Hortobágyi. We then decided to order three mains and just share them as well. We went with: 1) fresh pasta with mascarpone and spinach mousse, garlic, and dried tomatoes; 2) a farmhouse chicken breast with corn variations (including popcorn) and truffle pesto; 3) a pork shoulder with cauliflower cream, apricots, and yoghurt. After trying each of them, it so happened that Deb really liked the pork shoulder, and I preferred the pasta dish. So, we didn’t share those two, but only the farmhouse chicken. I had wanted to try one of their desserts, but we didn’t have time (the service was impeccable, but a bit slow) before our reservations back at the hotel’s rooftop Sky Bar.

I had arranged for a private violin soloist performance (since the Aria is known for its complete music theme), and it was absolutely astonishing! After that show, we had our own little table inside the High Note Sky Bar. It was cosy, and our waiter brought out our wines along with some complimentary baggies of popcorn. As I believe that one should always have the wines of the region, Deb had the 2016 Demeter Zoltán Szerelmi Hárslevelú, and I had the 2016 St. Andrea Áldás Egri Bikavér, which translates to “Bulls Blood”. It’s a mix of a lot of different grapes (in this case, Kékfrankos, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Kadarka, and Turán), and it was very interesting. I hope to never encounter it in a blind tasting, though, because it would be essentially impossible to identify. 😛 After that bottle, we each wanted one additional glass. Deb had a the 2016 István Szepsy Dry Furmint, and I went with the 2016 Etyeki Kúria Pinot Noir. Both were lovely, and I was surprised to find yet another gorgeous representation of cool climate Pinot!

We headed back downstairs to our beautiful room, but stopped to take one more look at the lovely terraces and music garden below.

Budapest – Hotel Aria’s stunning music garden courtyard

Unfortunately, as with so many of our stays in Austria, we only had one full day in the Ciringa / Südsteiermark region, so we had to make the best of it by seeing some of the cool attractions. We drove about 45 minutes or so away to the town of Riegersburg to visit their castle. If you walk up the hill to the top (instead of taking the funicular) and forego the castle museums, there are no fees involved. However, we opted to take the lift for €6 and to see all three museums for €13. The lift was rickety and a bit frightening, but we made it! The castle was really a neat experience, and the museums (one about the castle itself, one about witches, and one about medieval arms) were informative, but they were primarily in German. The English pamphlets only gave basic overviews of each room, so I feel like we missed out on a lot of the fascinating details. Though the castle experience was fun, I think it was a bit overpriced.

Südsteiermark – Riegersburg Castle entrance

One of the most interesting aspects of the castle was the various ornate stoves in some of the rooms. I often forget that there was no such thing as central heating and cooling during these times, so it was certainly a must to have some form of heating throughout the castle during the winter months. These stoves likely provided ample heat for taking the chill out of the air, and at Riegersburg, they likely served as discussion pieces given their elaborate and intricate designs.

Südsteiermark – lovely tile stove inside Riegersburg Castle

After going through the three museums, we spent a little time looking around the outside of the castle. The views of the surrounding areas were really beautiful and pastoral. Once finished with Riegersburg, we drove a little bit down the road to Zotter Schokoladen (a chocolate manufacturer) for a tour of their facility. It started with a really great video that outlined the chocolate making process beginning with harvesting the cacao pods. We then went through the factory with an English audio guide that explained every step of the process in a lot more detail.

Südsteiermark – one of many chocolate machines at Zotter Schokoladen

During each stage of the chocolate production, we were able to taste the “chocolate”. I use the word “chocolate” loosely because at many of the stages in the process, it didn’t taste much like the chocolate that we’re all used to. We did, however, get the opportunity to taste a bunch of their finished products. Some were good, some were great, and a few were absolutely fantastic! Deb ended up getting this solid 72% Milk chocolate bar sourced from Peru, some white chocolate bark with pistachios and almonds, and we each bought one of the tasting spoons that we used throughout the tour. I didn’t buy anything because the one that I loved the most wasn’t available for purchase. It was called the White Goddess and was white chocolate with Tonka Beans and honey crisps. It looks like it’s available online, so I may consider it at some point. The other ones that I enjoyed were the coconut nougat and the white chocolate bar with coconut and raspberries. One aspect of Zotter that I really found fascinating was the number of vegan options that they had available.

Südsteiermark – some of the vegan offerings at Zotter Schokoladen

At the tail end of the Zotter tour, there was a really great experience where they had large glass jars with various items that have rather distinct aromas (like rose petals, some baking spices such as cloves, and so on). The object of this particular hallway was to smell the contents of each jar and see if you could name the aroma without looking at the answer printed on the underside of the lid. Deb and I made it into a bit of a game by loosely keeping score, and I found it to be a lot of fun because many of the aromas that can be found in chocolate can also be found in red wines. As a side note, there was a really fun “chocolate bath” at the exit of the tour. Sadly, it was only for show, but I can imagine that chocoholics everywhere would swoon at the thought. 😛

Südsteiermark – the chocolate bathtub at Zotter Schokoladen

The other portion of the Zotter tour is a farm / petting zoo, but darn the bad luck, it started raining so we didn’t get a chance to go through it. After Zotter, we went back to the same restaurant that we ate at the previous night (Kirchenwirt an der Weinstraße in Ehrenhausen) because we enjoyed it so much! We didn’t have the same waiter this time, and our waitress tonight spoke VERY little English. It made it more difficult to order, but everything came out like we wanted. We each started with the mushroom tartare (which was my favourite), and then Deb went with Wiener Schnitzel and I had a custom order similar to what she had the evening before. I ordered the Pork Medallions, but without the pork. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but I wanted the dish with just a boatload of trumpet mushrooms and some extra German pretzel dumplings. I ordered by using Google Translate on my mobile, and my custom dish came out just as I had intended. Success!

Südsteiermark – Ehrenhausen – Kirchenwirt an der Weinstraße – Mushroom tartare starter

Südsteiermark – Ehrenhausen – Kirchenwirt an der Weinstraße – Trumpet mushrooms and pretzel dumplings

Back at the beautiful chalet, we enjoyed our wines of the evening. This time we went with two of the special, limited production wines from Weingut Tement. We wanted to compare two of their higher-end Sauvignon Blancs, so we had a bottle of the 2012 Zieregg “IZ” Reserve and a bottle of the 2015 Zieregg Vinothek Reserve. I thought that Deb would like the Vinothek and that I would like the “IZ” (which is made via a process similar to carbonic maceration [often used in Beaujolais]), but I had it completely backwards. I preferred the Vinothek and Deb liked the “IZ” more. I found the Vinothek to be a more pure expression of the grape and the place, which are two aspects that I highly value in wine.