School daze. It’s back to school for my final semester at IMC Krems. If all goes according to plan, and I stop procrastinating, I hope to hand in my thesis titled “Organic Banana Peel Compost as a Sustainable Source of Minerals for Young V. Vinifera” on 5 May — it’s a real page turner, I know. 🤓

But before school a quick trip to Paris to attend VinExpo Paris and RAW Wine. Both events are an opportunity to meet winemakers from around the world and to taste their latest vintages. RAW Wine is particularly interesting as it focuses solely on natural and low sulfur wines, strictly controlling the wineries who can participate.

But the real reason for the trip was to secure a location for Le Austrian Wine Pop-Up 🇫🇷. Did you know that less than 1% of Austrian wine exports is shipped to France? Sacrebleu! indeed.

To rectify this atrocity and to launch my first vintage, from 1-28 February 2025 Kapitel Zwei Wine will host a pop-up wine bar in the heart of Paris. Joining us will be 27 other Austrian wineries where we will pour some of the best wines from the country, including red, white, rose, orange and pet nat.

While the general public is welcome to taste we hope to attract importers, wine bar and shop owners, sommeliers and restauranteurs — if you know anyone from these professions and want to invite them let me know.

We found a great location in the trendy Marais neighborhood. If you have dreams of working a wine bar in Paris send me an email as we may need a spare bartender or two — and if you parler un peu le français, even better.

Progress in the Cellar

I’m happy to report that the cellar transformation is nearly complete. We have gone from a filthy attic to what I like to think of as industrial chic?

The pink insulation was added to three-sides of the cellar to stabilize the temperature to prevent the fermentation from getting stuck. The insulation will be covered with a thin plywood in the coming weeks and then I will put a varnish on the wood for maintenance purposes.

The two tanks are 150 liters each, but it will be a few more years before I can fill them both.

I also upgraded to a larger solar battery. You can see it in the photo below powering the Wifi router in the top left corner for the weather station. Behind the green door, which will soon be painted, is where one of the amphora is located and where the bottled wine will be stored, keeping it chilled if you want to buy a bottle during your winery visit. It’s a tight space, built into the side of the rock — I’ll share some photos once I install the lights.

First Vintage, First Tasting

The 2023 vintage has been making progress in the cellar at Weingut Feldtheorie and on 17 January I tasted it for the first time. I would be lying if I didn’t tell you that I was a nervous wreck and my hands were visibly shaking as we lifted off the amphora cap.

But all was well. At the time the wine was still undergoing MLF, but I already recognized the effects of the lactic acid with bready and creamy notes on the palate. I will taste it again in the coming weeks and keep you updated. The good news is that it didn’t smell like nail polish or horse sweat, which can result from nasty bacteria.

That’s all for now…back to writing my thesis.

Cheers,