Ortega
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Grape Variety Ortega – delicate Muscat Bouquet

The Ortega grape variety is one of the modern white grape crossings that are only rarely cultivated today.

Ortega produces yellow-green white wines which are rich in extract. Typical for the variety is its delicate, peach-like Muscat bouquet. Ortega wines are also considered to have very good ageing potential.

We do not vinify the harvest of our Ortega vines as wine every year. Instead, part of the highly ripe must is also used as a natural “sweet reserve”. You can find more information on the page “Sweetness in Wine”.

In combination with Siegerrebe, you will find a Sieger-Ortega Beerenauslese among our dessert wines of noble sweetness.

Vineyards of Ortega at Weingut Fuchs

Our Ortega vines grow at the Niefernheimer Schnepfenflug in a south-facing slope on the Palatinate side of the estate.

Origin of the Ortega Grape

The white grape variety Ortega was bred in 1948 at the Bavarian State Institute for Viticulture and Horticulture in Würzburg. It is a crossing of Mueller-Thurgau and Siegerrebe. The variety was named in honour of the philosopher José Ortega y Gasset (1883–1955), whom its breeder Hans Breider greatly admired.

Characteristics of the Grape Variety

The variety requires a wind-protected site with well-aerated, deep soils as well as favourable weather conditions during flowering. Ortega is sensitive to lime-rich soils and to drought.

The yellow, spicy berries ripen early and therefore often reach very high levels of ripeness, not rarely even at Beerenauslese level. Due to their early ripening, however, the grapes are highly susceptible to damage from wasps.