Verjus

What verjus is

The name comes from French: vert jus means green juice. In medieval cooking verjus was the usual souring agent, long before lemons became an everyday thing here. It was pressed from the grapes that still hung hard and green on the vine in summer.

The Austrian Food Codex describes verjus in chapter 6.1 as juice from unripe wine grapes. The limit is drawn precisely: the must may not reach a density of 1.055. That is about 11 degrees on the Klosterneuburg must scale. Grapes for our wines usually have 17 degrees or more at harvest.

So verjus is neither vinegar nor wine. It is not fermented, contains no alcohol and tastes sour, but rounder than vinegar. The acidity comes from the grape itself, mainly from malic acid, which breaks down later as the berry ripens.

How we make it

We press our verjus from Merlot. We pick the grapes green, weeks before the actual harvest, while the berries are still firm and sour. For us that is in August; for the Verjus Frühzzante it was 19 August 2025.

The grapes come from organic farming like everything we make, certified by Bio Austria. The juice stays naturally cloudy. The ingredient list of Verjus pur has a single entry: organic grapes. No added sugar, no added acid.

We also make the Verjus Frühzzante from green Merlot. Verjus pur is meant for the kitchen, the Frühzzante sparkles and belongs in the glass. Once it is gone, it only comes back with the next green harvest in August.

What verjus is for

In the kitchen, verjus replaces vinegar and lemon. It brings acidity to food without overpowering it. Use it instead of vinegar in a salad dressing, instead of white wine to deglaze vegetables, mushrooms or onions. Over fried fish it does what a lemon usually does.

Because it is milder than vinegar, it gets along with wine at the table. A salad with sharp vinegar makes the wine next to it taste flat; with verjus the wine stays as it is.

In the glass, verjus is the base for drinks without alcohol. Topped up with soda it tastes like a very dry spritzer. At the bar it replaces lemon in cocktails. With elderflower it becomes our Verjus & Blüte.

Verjus is alcohol-free and low in histamine. For anyone who does not want to drink or should not today, that makes it a real choice and not a substitute drink.

Our three verjus

• Verjus pur

  The pure juice, naturally cloudy, in 0.75 l and 0.375 l bottles. For cooking and for topping up with soda. Acidity and sugar were measured on freshly pressed juice from earlier pickings.

  Alcohol

  alcohol-free

  Acidity

  about 20 g/l

  Sugar

  69 to 77 g/l

  Energy value

  144 kJ / 34 kcal per 100 ml

• Verjus Frühzzante

  Verjus with bubbles, alcohol-free and naturally cloudy, in the 0.75 l bottle. Lighter than the pure juice and made for the glass: as an alcohol-free aperitif or to toast with instead of sparkling wine.

  Alcohol

  alcohol-free

  Acidity

  5.0 g/l

  Sugar

  20.0 g/l

  Energy value

  40 kJ / 9 kcal per 100 ml

• Verjus & Blüte

  The spritzer without wine: water, verjus, elderflower syrup with lemons and carbon dioxide. In the 0.33 l bottle, to drink straight away, well chilled.

  Alcohol

  alcohol-free

  Acidity

  4.8 g/l

  Sugar

  47.3 g/l

  Energy value

  80 kJ / 19 kcal per 100 ml

Acidity and sugar of the Frühzzante and Verjus & Blüte from the analyses of the Guntramsdorf wine laboratory in November 2025, for Verjus pur measured on the raw juice. Energy per 100 ml as on the label.

If you like your spritzer with wine: the Kaiser Spritzer is Muskateller with elderflower and soda. You will find all three in the shop and at the winery in Teesdorf.