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Buy any 12 bottles and save 10% (excludes sale). Free UK delivery on orders over £175. Tel : 02922 337454
Buy any 12 bottles and save 10% (excludes sale). Free UK delivery on orders over £175. Tel : 02922 337454
2005 Gewurztraminer Beerenauslese, Willi Opitz Your Store

2005 Gewurztraminer Beerenauslese, Willi Opitz

Burgenland, Austria

Lusciously golden and intoxicatingly aromatic, the 2005 Gewürztraminer Beerenauslese from Willi Opitz is a heady expression of the grape’s most exotic side. The nose is a kaleidoscope of rose petals, lychee, orange blossom, honey and crystallised ginger, with a subtle undertone of clove and saffron. The palate is unctuous yet perfectly poised, waves of tropical fruit and floral spice carried by a vibrant thread of acidity that keeps the sweetness in check. Rich, perfumed and endlessly layered, it lingers on notes of candied citrus and wildflower honey, glowing long after the last sip.

For when: indulgence feels not only deserved but necessary.
Pairs with: spiced desserts, foie gras, or a cheeseboard heavy on the blues.
If this wine were a scent, it’d be an amber perfume in a crystal bottle, exotic, luxurious, unforgettable.

Willi Opitz, the artisan alchemist of Illmitz in Austria’s Burgenland, has built an international reputation for crafting wines that turn nature’s fleeting moments into liquid art. Working beside Lake Neusiedl, where misty mornings and sunlit afternoons create perfect conditions for Botrytis cinerea (noble rot), Opitz hand-selects his botrytised berries one by one, transforming them into intensely concentrated Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese wines of striking purity and balance.

The Gewürztraminer Beerenauslese showcases his mastery of the variety, a grape famed for its exuberance, tamed here into elegance. The 2005 vintage, marked by warmth and ideal botrytis conditions, yielded fruit of incredible aromatic power and natural balance. Fermented slowly and aged gently to preserve freshness, this wine captures everything that makes Willi Opitz’s sweet wines so special: precision, perfume, and pure joy in a glass.

Whats in the bottle
100% Gewurztraminer

£65.00 - £65.00
£65.00
£65.00 - £65.00
£65.00
Availability:
Only 2 left!

On the misty eastern shores of Lake Neusiedl, where noble rot thrives and sweet wines have long been a way of life, Willi Opitz has carved out a reputation as one of Austria’s most distinctive and inventive winemakers. Since founding his small family estate in Illmitz in 1995, Opitz has become a cult figure in the world of botrytised wines, part craftsman, part alchemist, transforming meticulously selected grapes into some of Europe’s most seductive dessert wines.

The estate’s vineyards, planted on the gentle slopes near the lake, enjoy a unique microclimate of humid mornings and warm, breezy afternoons, perfect conditions for the development of Botrytis cinerea (noble rot). From these tiny, shrivelled berries, Opitz creates Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese of extraordinary concentration and purity, often vinified in minute quantities and by hand from start to finish. His hallmark style combines luscious richness with striking freshness, a balance achieved through low yields, patient harvesting, and slow, temperature-controlled fermentations that can last for months.

While best known for his botrytised marvels, Opitz is also an innovator, an early pioneer of “Schilfwein” (straw wine), and even a maker of music-themed cuvées for artists such as Pink Floyd and Formula 1 teams. Yet at its heart, the estate remains a deeply personal, artisanal operation: family-run, passionately sustainable, and driven by a singular mission, to capture the fleeting beauty of noble rot and bottle it as something timeless.