Clovers, Steel Tanks, Amphora and Disappointment

Spring has officially arrived in Krems an der Donau, Austria, but if the vines at Kapitel Zwei Wine could talk they would tell you otherwise.

March and April have been dry and cold. That is until 14 April when the skies opened and a deluge of rain fell. I don’t have the official numbers yet, but my 225 liter rainwater collection barrel was over flowing.

Of course this monsoon was perfectly timed for the one hour drive out to Gols, Austria, to pick up two 150 liter steel tanks for the vineyard. The Slovenian-family made tanks from Zottel will be used for fermenting the juice prior to aging it in amphora. I want to give a special shout-out to my former IBM colleagues who gifted me a voucher to make this purchase possible. Veilen Dank! 🤗

The two 150 liter tanks are nice and shiny. After two hours, and safely driving through a brief snow blizzard, they arrived in Krems.

Crimson & Clover, Over and Over

Meanwhile back in the vineyard, at the end of March I spread red clover seeds in the vineyard rows. Red clover is a rather useful plant for vineyards because “bacteria in the nodules of the red clover roots convert nitrogen from the air into nitrates”. These stored nitrates are eventually released to the companion plants, i.e. vines, which are essential for normal vine growth. So in summary, it’s an organic way to fertilize.

The red clover is starting to germinate. The flower in the bottom right corner is what it will look like in a few months.

Amphorae Pick-Up

On 20 March we picked up two 55 liter amphorae from the world-class Italian producer Tavaand as promised the Tava team gave a tour of the facility from the raw clay to the shipping warehouse.

I shared a photo collage on Instagram if you are curious, but the real highlight was meeting Francesco Tava, the founder and CEO.

His family owns a ceramic business, but he chose a different path — philosophy. He was a philosophy professor for several years, but one evening several of his wine making friends were complaining about the amphorae made in other parts of Europe. That fateful evening, which apparently lasted until 4 am, transformed his career. He started off with a few pilot projects, where experts and winemakers carefully studied the clay, the porosity and its impact on aging wine. A decade later Tava amphorae are everywhere.

The brand new Tava manufacturing space near Brescia, Italy. Everything from processing the raw clay to firing it at 1200°C (2100°F) happens here.

The two 55 liter amphorae bound for Kapitel Zwei Wine. Luckily, they both fit in the back of the Mini Clubman.

My First Setback

I didn’t plan to tell you this, but I don’t want you to believe that my Chapter Two doesn’t come with some disappointment.

Prior to buying the land for Kapitel Zwei Wine I rented a very small vineyard called Ried Limberg and planted 50 vines. It should have been a learning exercise for me until something bigger came along. Sadly, the farmer who was hired to care for these vines, while also teaching me, dropped the ball and all of the vines died. I was in so much disbelief that when I saw the Ried, two weeks ago, I spent 30 minutes thinking that I was in the wrong location.

After several terse exchanges with the farmer I think the result is positive. He agreed to give me the 2024 and 2025 harvest of 60 Riesling vines. The vines are 20-25 years old and are within walking distance of Kapitel Zwei Wine, so I expect that I should be able to produce about 100 bottles. So the net outcome is that my first vintage will be a year earlier than expected with Riesling, which I will attempt to age in amphorae. It’s also a great chance to practice using all of the tools and techniques I’ve acquired over the past several years.

Kapitel Zwei Wine Coming to New York?

My fifth and next to last semester at IMC Krems is focused on practical training, i.e. an apprenticeship, which requires all students to spend 32 hours per week for 22 weeks working for a company in some facet of the wine industry.

As luck would have it, there is a winemaker growing Chenin Blanc 30 minutes from where my parents live on Long Island. After a few emails and a Zoom interview the owner and head winemaker has agreed to take me under his wing and I will be spending August to November on the North Fork of Long Island. I’ll share more details as it gets closer. Also another funny coincidence, his father worked for IBM for 25 years.

And don’t forget, I have some cool merchandise if you want to keep my accountant happy and help me create some marketing buzz.

Tschüs,

Chris