Drumroll…My En Primeur Newsletter
Greetings from Krems, Austria.
Willkommen! This is my first Kapitel Zwei Wine newsletter - a rare collectors item - thank you so much for subscribing.
As many of you know after 20 years I recently swapped my IBM badge for an IMC Krems University one after starting a three-year degree in wine business and viticulture to help me launch Kapitel Zwei Wine, a new organic and sustainable vineyard here in Krems, which an hour from Vienna. Kapitel Zwei, translates into Chapter Two, as this is the second chapter of my career.
First impressions...there is more algebra than I hoped for, but I am also learning a lot about vineyard diseases, botany, sustainable agriculture, rootstocks and cloning vines to mix and match them to the terroir. There has also been plenty of tastings, with an initial focus on Bourgogne and Bordeaux. Fun fact, the Bourgogne wine region prefers using the French spelling instead of "Burgundy" because in English "Burgundy" is a shade of red and 62% of the wines here are white causing much confusion to tourists.
The Vineyards
As for my vineyards, the small, rental plot called "Ried Limberg" (Ried is German for a single vineyard) survived the turbulent weather between Spring and Summer, which included several hot days above 30C (86F) and heavy rain. The photo at the top of this newsletter shows the vines we planted back on 21 May including Chardonnay, Gelber Muskateller and Riesling, and the photo above is from a few days ago. I expect the first vintage in 2024 and it will be a rare, highly collectable first growth of 30-40 bottles.
"Ried Kremsleiten", the second vineyard (see video below), will be ready for planting in Spring 2022. In preparation, I am connecting with experts in the region to do a soil test to check the pH and to understand how to position the vine rows to maximize the terroir. I hope to break from the traditional norms of this region and plant some French white grape varietals, but first I need to figure out the agricultural importing laws. The wine here will be ready in 2025 and I am expecting around 500 bottles.
Next year these overgrown terraces will become Kapitel Zwei Wine with several hundred rootstocks of three to four French white wine varietals. The brown shed will be the world's smallest tasting room and somewhere hidden in the grass is a cave where I will age the wine.
Coming Up
In the not so distant future I will need your help.
For my "Foundations of Empirical Social Research" class I will be doing a marketing survey and I will ask you to vote on which label design to put on the wine bottles. So stay tuned.
Also I am going to need some help digging several hundred holes at Reid Kremsleiten in spring 2022. If you are interested in joining me and getting your hands dirty let me know and I'll be sure to reward you with a spectacular dinner in Krems.
And finally, there is a terrible injustice that needs to be rectified. Did you know that there is no emoji for white grapes? We need to change this soon with a petition.
Thanks again for joining me on this journey and if you have any questions or happen to be in Krems drop me am email.
Tschüss,
Chris
