Around 100,000 vines grow in my vineyards. Even if you might find it presumptuous, I think that I know every single one.
Handcraft
Handcraft
I prune them in winter and in spring I tie their shoots on trellis wires. I adjust the leaf canopy to the weather in summer and in autumn I pick the grapes. Naturally, I have help doing this. But to do a really good job, I must be able to understand the vines and what they need. For this reason, I go repeatedly into the vineyard to observe the vines and attempt to understand how they are doing.
Once in the cellar, grapes are fermented to wine. I aspire to lend each vineyard its voice and reveal its intrinsic character. Experience counts and so does the courage to remain in the background and allow the wine its own will.
Vineyard
My vineyards are living ecosystems in which vines play the leading role.
What may seem to appear to you as a matter of course is actually based on a complex symbiotic network of countless factors. The foundation for all further developments is the soil. I enhance this with natural preparations, plant green cover, gradually build the humus layer and provide suitable conditions for vitality under the surface. This makes it easier for vines to thrust their roots deeper into the earth to find nourishment.
Water storage capacity is improved and vines are better anchored in the soil. Soil vitality is also noticeable above the surface. Plant diversity is accompanied by increasingly more insects and butterflies, which are key in preventing harm from potential pests. All of these influences leave their traces in wine, which gains in vitality, complexity and depth.
Cellar
I stand by my wines in the cellar.
The grapes that ripen in the vineyard must be harvested healthy and at the right point in time. It is first in the cellar that the multiple attributes are translated into wine. I make my decisions calmly and in consideration of my family tradition, yet also combine my own personal experiences to arrive at how each vineyard and grape variety is best expressed. For example, I prefer to ferment all wines spontaneously without cultivated yeast.
The subsequent time is spent observing and remaining focused on one goal: to make wines that are detailed, precise, balanced and unadulterated expressions of origin and variety.
