150 Liters or Bust & Wine Pop-Up Part Deux
I just came back from giving my 40th winery tour this season. My clients were a married couple from British Columbia with the most wonderfully charming Canadian accents. They arrived, like many of my clients, on the Viking Cruise boats to Krems, but instead of following the herd to the 12th century abby Stift Göttweig, they found me.
On the ride back to the boat they admitted that the Austrian wine that gets imported into Canada, in their opinion, is “uninspiring” and “rubbish” — tough words coming from Canadians, who are known for their politeness. But the experience today completely changed their opinion after tasting wines from from Nord und Süd and Weingut Feldtheorie, buying a bottle from each of them. The couple also commented on the passion that both wine growers had for their craft, which is something they often miss when visiting large producers. It was the perfect way to end the season.
Slow Fermentation
Meanwhile back in the cellar my two amphora and steel tank, which combined are about 150 liters, are slowly finishing fermentation. More precisely, I had samples analyzed at the lab on 10 November:
Amphora Riesling & Muller Thurgau - 12.2% alcohol with 3.7 g/l sugar
Amphora Chenin Blanc & Gruner Veltliner - 10.8% alcohol with 12.2 g/l
Steel Tank Riesling - 11.9% alcohol with 4.1 g/l sugar
Since the 10th I’ve tasted them a few times and they are nearly all dry, but after a bâtonnage or lees stirring today the bubbles started popping again, so we aren’t quite at the finish line just yet.
2024 Vintage Around the World
I would be remiss not to thank everyone who ordered my 2024 vintage. To my utter surprise I only have 9 bottles remaining in the cellar, and yes, I kept two for myself.
This year I shipped, in no particular order, to France, Scotland, England, Spain, Switzerland, Greece, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, USA, Albania and of course Austria. Here in Vienna I borrowed my wife’s e-bike and delivered the wines to meet both existing customers and new customers who found me on Reddit and Instagram. I am also thrilled to have been indexed by the popular wine website wine-searcher.com.
And soon you will find Kapitel Zwei Wine at a restaurant in Vienna and at a wine shop in Paris, which are both big milestones for me personally.
A bottle of 2024 Kapitel Zwei Dilemma at a wine tasting in Athens, Greece. Credit: Stephan C.
Speaking of Paris…
Based on the success of the Le Austrian Wine Pop-Up this past February, which you can read about here, we are going back to Paris — even bigger. 44 wineries from all across Austria will be represented again at Fringe Cafe in Paris from 1-21 February.
From historic wineries to small, boutique growers, me and several other wineries will be there to showcase classical to low-intervention wines from Gruner Veltliner and Riesling to Zweigelt pouring sparkling, red, white, rosé and orange wines — see the full list here. Wine tastings are free and a limited number of bottles will be available for sale.
If you are planning to be in Paris for RAW Paris or Paris Wine Expo please come by. We will be open every evening from 18hr until midnight — and this year we are taking reservations.
That’s all for 2025. Wishing everyone a fantastic close to the year.
Prost!
Chris
