Tement, Morillon (Chardonnay) Sudsteiermark Muschelkalk, 2023 [Pre-Arrival ETA 7/15]

Here's a Burgundy lover's off-piste discovery. "Morillon" is simply the Styrian name for Chardonnay, and this one is grown on Muschelkalk, a bedrock of fossilized shell limestone. Tement ferments it naturally and ages it in large neutral oak, so there's texture and grip but none of the buttery makeup. Vines up to four decades old give it depth, while the limestone gives it that saline snap. The result is an Old-World Chardonnay that trades in restraint and minerality, made by one of Austria's finest for a fraction of what its Burgundian cousins ask.