Authentic

Authen­ticity and sustain­ability

Our forefather Johann Weiß­heimer II grasped the key insight of wine­making:  "Good wine needs good soil" he wrote in his diary – a truism just as relevant today as it was back then. In this age of mass production and industrial agri­culture, we rely on our traditional strengths: authen­ticity, handicraft, origin and sustain­ability.

Because great wine begins in the vineyard, we take great pride in the careful culti­vation of our vines.

We eschew herbicides and mineral fertilizers in favor of horse manure, green cover crops and crushed rocks. The vine rows are weeded mechanically.

Taken collectively, these measures provide our vines with everything they need for natural yield reduction! Ecological balance is encouraged, stabilizing the eco­system of our vine­yards. This influences the ripeness and health of the grapes, as well as the quality and taste of the wine.

Our grapes are allowed 180-200 days of hang time during the vegetative phase, enough to develop their natural strength and defenses.

Artisanal

All done by hand

At the same time, our vines benefit from a great deal of expert care to nurture them to their full potential. This work must all be done by hand, but to our minds this is a given anyways! Pruning, canopy management, consistent yield reduction, grape selection and crop thinning are all crucial steps on the path to gathering the finest harvest material and producing top quality, organically grown wine.

Given our focus on establishing quality through the vineyard, we firmly believe in only minimal intervention in the cellar.

Grapes are transported on a trailer in 900 liter boxes, moving from vineyard to the estate, where they are then unloaded using a forklift and rotator. After pressing, the must is gravity-fed into our old vaulted cellar (erected 1823). Our wines ferment in stainless steel tanks and oak barrels (500 liter) using native yeast, which better underscores our distinctive style and flavor.

The estate's vaulted cellar provides the perfect cool spot for extended aging by promoting natural clarification and stabilization. When their time has come, the wines are gently filtered and bottled.