There are about 100,000 vines in my vineyards. Even if you think it's presumptuous, I think I know every one of them. I pruned them in winter, tied their shoots in wire in spring, adjusted their foliage to the weather in summer and harvested their grapes in autumn. Of course, I am helped in this. But in order to be helped, I have to explain the vines and their needs. And for that I go out to them again and again, observe them and try to understand what is going on inside them.

WEINGARTEN

My vineyards are living ecosystems in which vines play the leading roles. What may seem obvious to you is based on a complex, interconnected exchange of countless factors. The basis for all further developments is the soil. I strengthen it with natural preparations, green it, provide for a successive humus build-up and create the conditions for vital conditions below the surface. This makes it easier for the roots of the vines to penetrate into deeper layers of soil to absorb nutrients. At the same time, water is better stored and the vine is more sustainably anchored in the soil. The lively soil life is also visible on the surface. The plant diversity is accompanied by more and more insects and butterflies, which in turn form a phalanx against potential pests.

All these influences leave their mark on the wine, which gains in liveliness, complexity and depth.

CELLAR

Many people think that wine is made in the vineyard. I don't mean that. Grapes are grown there, and if you want to make good or even great wines, they have to be healthy and harvested at the right time. In the cellar you then translate the many-voiced characteristics of the grape into wine. The direction lies solely with me. I make the decisions. Some of them are fundamental: for example, I ferment all my wines spontaneously. Others, such as the choice of cask, are based on personal experience of how individual sites and grape varieties should be interpreted. Still other decisions are reactions to the vintage and concern maceration time and fermentation temperature, the use of sulphur, yeast storage or maturation time. The rest of the time I observe and accompany.

My goal always remains the same: To press wines that tell of their origin and variety in a detailed, precise, balanced and light-hearted way.

In the cellar, I then transform the grapes into wine. In doing so, I try to give each vineyard its voice and reveal its character. Experience counts and also the courage to step back and let the wine have its own way.