Barbara Őhlzelt   Verjus NV
Kamptal, Austria
Gruner Veltliner 
0% abv 
Vegan Friendly
‘Beautifully pure, super high quality Verjus from Barbara Őhlzelt. Many, many uses … lots of opportunities.’
 
Verjus … literally ‘Green juice’ is made from under-ripe grapes harvested around the first week of August … some 4-6 weeks before they are ‘wine-ready’. In effect it’s a late green harvest but instead of dropping the bunches to the floor, they are taken to the winery and pressed. There are no additives and there is no fermentation … in the bottle it’s just ‘green’ grape juice with zero alcohol. It sounds ‘sharp’ and it is but the flexibility and number of uses you can put Verjus to are remarkable … Zero alcohol, zero added sugar ‘adult’ drinks … Cocktails … Mocktails … dressings … sauces… patisserie etc etc. Whereas vinegar is acetic and therefore argues with wine, Verjus is grape juice and therefore tends to compliment wine.
 
The Gruner Verjus is the ‘brisker’ of the two ‘raw’ versions …. Undiluted, there’s a fairly pointy initial acidity with a lovely, lingering Gruner flavour building in the background. Dilute with sparkling water to taste though … 50/50 works nicely … and just look at how the aromatics lift, the acidity drops and the finish just runs on and on .. making a lovely, pure, refreshing, zero alcohol drink with no added sugars … in fact no added anythings! Replace vinegars in salad dressings or sauces, swap for lemon juice in patisserie, sorbets, ice creams etc… use as a modifier in cocktails or a base in Mocktails …. This is a fantastically high quality, super versatile produc