It’s been 244 days since the first hole was dug at Ried Kremsleithen, the plot name of the vineyard in Krems…so where are we now?

The leaves have all fallen off and all of the sap has travelled down the Chenin, Sémillon and Roussane vines, as they go into dormancy for the winter. But there was a surprise along the way. 🫣

One of the Sémillon vines decided it couldn’t wait until 2024 and it produced about a dozen grapes. This is rather unusual as typically it takes three years, but I’m not complaining. It certainly points to the fact that the clay soil here can support Sémillon, which is a huge relief. This varietal tends to enjoy gravelly or clay-limestone soils, so we are not too far off the mark. It also gives me confidence that there will be enough sunlight to bear fruit.

You are probably asking yourself, “Did he taste it?”. You bet! The grape was sweet and measured 20 degree Brix (°Bx), which is at the low end of the literal sweet spot when you decide to begin harvesting. Brix is the sugar content of a liquid. Most still wine grapes are harvested at between 21 and 25 °Bx. It´s an important metric to help winemakers determine how much alcohol will eventually be produced after fermentation.

To calculate the alcohol you multiply the degree Brix by .55, which means my little Sémillon bunch would produce a wine with 11% alcohol — most still wines start at 12.5%, so if it was time to harvest it would be wise to just wait a little longer to reach a minimum 23 °Bx. I’ve decided to freeze the rest of the grape bunch and I am going to try and preserve them in an epoxy. I’ll share photos of this once it’s done assuming I don’t make a mess.

Progress in the Vineyard

After carrying up around thirty 10 kg recycled plastic poles the trellis is finally installed and ready for the vines and tendrils to wrap around in the spring. They were a pain in the ass to carry up, but the benefit will pay off in the long term as they won’t need to be replaced anytime soon. The recycled plastic is also really easy to drill into, which was a pleasant surprise.

In addition, I’m attempting to improve the organic composition of the soil with an organic product called Nourivit Plus, which was recommended by the outstanding sweet wine producer Gerhard Kracher. I sprayed it twice in November and will do another application in spring. And finally, in March I will begin planting cover crop, including red clover and crimson clover, in-between the rows to help in increasing nitrogen in the soil while also keeping weeds away.

Accounting and Co-Marketing

Despite the terrible advice of my accounting professor I met with another accountant and thankfully he is helping me apply for a tax ID number for the vineyard. This will help me avoid paying sales tax when I buy equipment for the vineyard from outside of Austria, such as the two 55 liter amphoras I will use to age the wine and the pneumatic press to press the grapes. It’s a huge help to a small business — kudos to the EU 🇪🇺.

This also meant that I have to start controlling my finances a little, i.e. ditching the shoebox for keeping my receipts, is not going to cut it come tax season. I beta tested a few options and eventually signed up for Accountable.de. After using the service for a few months the marketing team contacted me about recording a video for their Instagram account and overnight I have become social media star. Well, not exactly, but since I created the video they waved the annual service fee for a year — if you are in need of a laugh check it out here and please like it.

Marketing Update

I mentioned in the last newsletter that I was preparing some “merch” and I am nearly ready to go live with my online webshop. Below is one of the first designs. On the right is the German word “winzer” or winemaker in English. I will also have “winzerin” for female winemakers. I call this my “employee” shirt, so if you would like to virtually work in my vineyard this is the t-shirt for you. I hope the shop will go on sale before the end of the year, but first I need to sort out the tax ID number.

If you have any creative ideas for a t-shirt design let me know and if I decide to make it, you will get one for free.

Thanks again for subscribing to my newsletter. It’s rewarding to document and share my progress as I continue this adventure.

Seasons Greetings,