In the fictional Gut Oggau family, Atanasius is the son of Wiltrude and Joschuari, the brother of Theodora and a charming, direct young man who, as Eduard and Stephanie put it, can always be counted on and never hides anything. He is the children's generation in red, which means younger vines, gravel and limestone soils on flatter terrain to the north of Oggau, and wines built around freshness and fruit rather than weight and structure.

The blend is Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt from 35-year-old vines. The grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed and spend three weeks on the skins before twelve months of élevage in used 500 and 1200-litre barrels with no batonnage, no fining, no filtration and zero sulphur added. The fruity aromas are charming and open, affectionate and gentle. On the palate there is powerful stony minerality and a plethora of berry flavours, combined with a savoury, meaty umami note on the finish.

The 2021 vintage brought something particularly special to this cuvée. Atanasius 2021 comes from flat terroir to the north of Oggau, off mostly limestone. The vintage was exciting because at the end of a warm summer, temperatures dropped to around 12-13 degrees at the end of the growing cycle. This preserved quite amazing aromatics in the wine, along with some structure. The 2021 is fresh and elegant and fruity, with the possibility of a light pétillance — and certainly there is in this vintage, all the better for it. It is superb. At 12% alcohol it is a wine to open freely, share widely and drink with pleasure rather than ceremony.