Share Pulling Out Suckers, Making wine with Chestnuts? and New Pop-Up in Vienna
I don’t know who has been busier this spring, me or the grapevines?
Despite a very dry beginning of the year, in May the buds bursted open and are thriving in both the Kremsleithen and Weinzierlberg vineyards. I am pleasantly surprised by the number of inflorescence, or grape flowers, from the three-year old sémillion and chenin vines. They should produce 2-3x more grape clusters this year, assuming a successful flowering, where the caps fall off leading to pollination.
As for the roussanne, apparently Karl Dieter the #$%#@&ing (insert your own curse) deer is back and he loves roussanne as much as I do. Somehow Karl is evading my cameras and squeezing around the fence, so next year I will have to take securing the roussanne to another level. There are some organic bitter oils I can use or I will add fencing. Karl Dieter 2, Chris 0.
Weinzierlberg (in English: Wine Ornament Mountain)
It’s my first time working the old Weinzierlberg riesling vines and they require a bit of extra work, compared to my young vines in Kremsleithen. More specifically, they produce water sprouts and suckers, which are shoots that grow from undesirable parts of the vine, such as the trunk. This is not ideal as you don’t want grapes growing at the base of the trunk where they will either be eaten by animals or spread disease. In addition, they siphon water and nutrients, which need to reach the top part of the vine. I simply needed to walk through the vineyard and pull them off, but with 350 vines it takes time.
At the pop-up in Paris I learned about a sulfur alternative being developed in Portugal from chestnut trees. I will plan to test it with the Weinzierlberg wine for the 2025 vintage, which, if all goes according to plan, will be used to produce a skin-fermented orange wine. While I have no issue working with sulfur, as I have previously published, some people do. Plus, it’s interesting science.
Speaking of Weinzierlberg, I want to give a shout out to Gasthof Leindl and Toni Zöhrer. Gasthof Leindl just opened a bed and breakfast/lunch across from Weinzierlberg and they were kind enough to allow me to use their water for my vineyard — a huge saviour as the vineyard requires more than 150 litres of organic plant protection spay every few weeks to keep mildew away. If you are in Krems and are looking to have a delicious breakfast or lunch in a vineyard, check out Gasthof Leindl.
And thanks to Toni, my vineyard neighbor. He agreed to cut my grass — for free, saving me several hours of work. This is the kind of generosity I have come to greatly appreciate in the region.
Professor Chris!
Last week I wrapped up my first university teaching experience, and while I wait for my student evaluation, I think it was a success. For the final exam the winemakers from Urbanihof, our client, heard two marketing presentations from the students and they were overjoyed with the energy and ideas. In fact, Franz Paschinger, the owner of Urbanihof, offered jobs to the students to implement their strategies. I am already looking forward to next semester.
Wine Events
It wouldn’t be a newsletter without some new wine events to promote, right?
From 26-28 June I’m hosting another wine pop-up, but this time in Vienna. Again another example of Austrian generosity, an art gallery has offered me its space for free to host the pop-up. I’ll be pouring wines with friends for three-days, opening at 19hr at Maxingstrasse 3 in Vienna (U4 Hietzing). So please stop by, taste some incredible wines and meet the vignerons.
On 12 July, I am teaming up with my former IBM colleague Mirek Hazer and my former teacher Darrel Joseph to host a wine master class in Tyrol, Austria at Mirek’s trendy hotel called ELSA. Darrel is a wine judge and journalist and he will do most of the talking, I will just share my own journey to viticulture — no wine to share since my 2023 wine is sold out and the 2024 is yet to be bottled.
Speaking of the 2024 vintage…
Pre-Allocation for the 2024 Vintage
Nearly 70% of the 2024 vintage is already allocated. So if you want to get on the list just click below and fill in the “Notify Me” button with your email address and I’ll add you (nothing to pay). Both bottles will be 20 EUR, USD or CHF per 500 ml bottle, not including shipping.
