FLEIN shows what Sauvignon Blanc, Gelber Muskateller (Yellow Muscat), and Blaufränkisch taste like before fermentation and aging change their character. These single-varietal organic grape juices from Austria make it possible to experience the grape variety, origin, and vintage directly, without any alcohol.
Anyone who likes to busy themselves with wine eventually discovers those small differences that one gets hooked on.
Sauvignon Blanc can appear green, herbaceous, and citrusy. Gelber Muskateller often smells so immediately floral that you can almost identify the grape variety before you have even tasted it. Blaufränkisch, for its part, brings notes of cherry, sour cherry, dark berries, and often a quite striking acidity.
We learn to look for these differences. We compare vintages, soils, regions, and winemaking styles.
And at some point, an astonishingly simple question arises:
What do these grape varieties actually taste like before they become wine?
Before yeast turns sugar into alcohol. Before fermentation creates new aromas. Before the mash, the barrel, the bottle, and time contribute their part to the story. That is exactly the point where FLEIN begins.
Maria and Michael Groß from Southern Styria produce single-varietal organic grape juices where the grape variety, vintage, and origin do not become a side note. On the contrary: they form the starting point.
© Stella
What distinguishes FLEIN from ordinary grape juice
With wine, we would hardly accept being able to distinguish only between "white" and "red."
We want to know whether there is Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, or Muskateller in the glass. Where the grapes were grown. Which year they come from. Perhaps even which soil they grew in.
With juices, things are different.
There, you usually encounter terms like "white grape juice," "red grape juice," or "100 percent direct juice." These are completely accurate descriptions—they just don't tell you much about what is actually behind the product.
FLEIN applies part of the quality logic of viticulture to juice.
The still varieties are bottled as single-varietal and vintage-specific products. The grapes come from specially selected vineyards, are harvested by hand, and are farmed organically. Regionally typical grape varieties take center stage.
The idea for this originated within the Groß family. When Nika Mitteregger, Michael Groß's sister, was looking for a suitable drink during her pregnancy, the question arose as to why grape juice is so rarely thought of with the same care and appreciation as wine.
The first single-varietal Sauvignon Blanc FLEIN was released in 2018. And with that, a practical question quickly became a sensory one.
© kein&low
How does fermentation change the taste of the grape?
Anyone who tastes grape juice and wine side by side will quickly notice: The answer is not simply "wine tastes less sweet and has alcohol."
A great deal happens aromatically during alcoholic fermentation.
Yeasts convert sugar into alcohol, and at the same time, new aroma compounds are created or precursors already present in the grape become accessible. What we later perceive as typical varietal character does not, therefore, come exclusively from the fresh berry.
Part of it is already inside. Another part only develops on the way to becoming wine. And that is exactly why it is so interesting to taste grape varieties before this transformation. In a sense, you are drinking an earlier version of the same story.
This is particularly easy to understand with Sauvignon Blanc. Many of the aromas that we associate with the variety—such as grapefruit, passion fruit, or gooseberry—are significantly shaped during fermentation. Certain aroma precursors are present in the grape in a relatively inconspicuous state and are only released by yeasts.
It is different with Muskateller. Here, a large part of the unmistakable floral, muscat-like fragrance is already directly in the berry. Anyone who has ever tasted a ripe Muskateller grape straight from the vine understands immediately why this variety is considered particularly aromatic.
FLEIN makes exactly these differences tasteable.
© Lupi Spuma
Sauvignon Blanc as single-varietal organic grape juice
Sauvignon Blanc is one of the definitive grape varieties of Southern Styria.
For the FLEIN Sauvignon Blanc 2025, the grapes come from Southern Styria and the adjacent Štajerska Slovenija. The selected vineyards are located at an altitude of around 350 to 400 meters on calcareous marl.
In the glass, it shows an aromatic profile that feels familiar and yet different from the wine. Lemon balm, gooseberry, green apple, and lime meet young pea pods and herbs. Added to this is a vibrant acidity that provides a counterpoint to the natural fruit sugar. You recognize Sauvignon. But you also recognize just how much fermentation will later work on this variety.
This does not make the juice a preliminary stage waiting for its completion. Rather, it shows a unique state of the grape that one otherwise hardly ever consciously tastes.
Discover FLEIN Sauvignon Blanc 2025
Gelber Muskateller as aromatic organic grape juice
With Gelber Muskateller, the effect is almost the opposite. So much characteristic aroma is already in the grape that you quickly recognize the variety again.
The FLEIN Gelber Muskateller 2025 shows elderflower, orange blossom, and nutmeg. On the palate, grapefruit and candied lemon zest are added, carried by a taut acidity. Here, you understand very directly what is meant by an "aromatic grape variety." Fermentation does not first have to create this character. Much of it is already there.
Especially in direct comparison with Sauvignon Blanc, FLEIN thus becomes almost a little sensory experiment: How much character does a grape variety bring with it—and how much is created later in the cellar?
Discover FLEIN Gelber Muskateller 2025
Blaufränkisch as grape juice from Central Burgenland
With Blaufränkisch, the story is different again.
The grapes do not come from Southern Styria, but from Central Burgenland. Maria and Michael Groß work for this with the Weninger family in Horitschon. The selected FLEIN vineyards are located on calcareous loam and clay soils. Here, too, it becomes apparent how unusual the approach to grape juice actually is.
Not just "red juice," but Blaufränkisch as a dark rosé. Vintage 2025. Sensorially, cranberry and pomegranate, black elderberry, cherry, and sour cherry appear, as well as floral and spicy notes.
Those who know Blaufränkisch as wine will recognize quite a few things: cherry, acidity. The dark fruit and spice are missing a little, but in return, one discovers a brand-new lightness that gives the Blaufränkisch a completely new trait.
Discover FLEIN Blaufränkisch 2025
Why good grape juices begin in the vineyard
A significant part of the work at FLEIN does not happen in the cellar. That is perhaps the most important point. Because with an unfermented drink, the natural sugar of the grape is preserved. There is no alcoholic fermentation that converts a large part of it. This makes the acidity crucial.
Grapes harvested too late, which are very ripe, can bring a lot of sugar and little tension. For a balanced juice, a different view of the right harvest time is therefore needed. At FLEIN, parcels are specifically selected for juice production. The grapes are harvested by hand, yields are reduced, and the time of harvest is chosen so that fruit, sugar, and acidity remain in balance.
Following the harvest, a particularly gentle pressing occurs. The FLEIN charter specifies a pressing rate of 55 percent. This is intended to keep unwanted bitter substances and unripe notes to a minimum. This, too, is more reminiscent of viticulture than of the classic image of juice production.
© kein&low
FLEIN Fizz Blanc: sparkling organic grape juice
Things also get interesting where FLEIN leaves the single-varietal principle.
The sparkling FLEIN Fizz can be thought of as cuvées. In the current Fizz Blanc 2025, Welschriesling and Gelber Muskateller meet. Citrus, melon, white flowers, verbena, pear, and green apple combine with a fine perlage and a vibrant play of acidity.
With this, the initial question changes a little.
With Sauvignon Blanc, Muskateller, or Blaufränkisch, it is about getting to know a grape variety as directly as possible. With the Fizz, it is about the interplay of the grape varieties: Which varieties complement each other? Which brings fragrance, which freshness, which structure?
The carbon dioxide does the rest. It makes the natural sugar of the grapes appear less present. Not because it makes it disappear, but because it provides a counterpoint: acidic stimulation, tingling, and freshness. The perception shifts—away from pure fruit sweetness, toward more tension and lightness.
Thus, in the Fizz, not only are grape varieties coordinated with one another, but also with acidity, sweetness, and texture. At this point, at the latest, it becomes clear why "grape juice" is perfectly correct, but only tells part of the story.
Grape juice with variety, vintage, and origin
FLEIN does not try to imitate wine. The drinks are also not in competition with wine. They become exciting where one understands them as a perspective of their own on the grape.
And so, perhaps that is also the most beautiful way to understand FLEIN:
Wine tells what a grape can become. FLEIN tells how much is already inside it beforehand.
___________________________________
