Werlitsch 'Sauvignon Blanc von Ompok' 2022 Chardonnay Styria, Austria

750ml bottle

12.5% abv 

Nose of wild herbs, wet stone, quince, lemon peel, and mandarin, with a flinty, slightly reductive edge. Creamy yet vibrant, with saline minerality, crisp acid, and subtle yeast-and oak-driven texture, giving a layered, savory finish.

Opok is the limestone rich clay soil found in Southern Styria where Ewald Tscheppe works his vineyards biodynamically, following natural winemaking principles in the cellar. Short maceration, spontaneous fermentation in large neutral oak, aged about 18 months on the lees. Unfined. Unfiltered. No added sulfites. Minimal-intervention approach emphasizes purity, texture, and a strong sense of place.

In a time when natural wines are produced almost everywhere, its all too easy to forget how the revival of this ancient winemaking technique and rise to popularity came about: first there were a few visionaries along the Italy Slovenia border (Gravner in 1997), a few more in the Loire (Joly) and, yes, another few in Austria's Styria, the wine region bordering Slovenia and one that is known for Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, the latter being called Morillon locally.

One such pioneering soul was Ewald Tscheppe. When Ewald started experimenting with skin fermentation, keeping his wines on the lees for many years and with reducing sulfur to a bare minimum, and then skipping it altogether, his ideas seem rather out there.

Ewald works 8 hectares of steep and rolling hills surrounding his winery. His system is simple: he divides his vineyards into three categories, with the vines from the bottom of the hill going into the Ex Vero I cuvee, the vines on the slopes going into Ex Vero II, and the steepest and therefore most austere parts of the vineyard are reserved for Ex Vero III.

Ewald follows Demeter principles of biodynamic farming. Having a lively and healthy balance between insects, microcosms in the soils and plants, create the kind of balance that is crucial to produce grapes of the highest quality, 

The Werlitsch winery sits at bottom of steep vineyards that surround the winery like an amphitheater. Rolling hills provide the most austere soils and strongest winds close to the ridge, while deeper and more fertile soils can be found at the bottom, near the winery. Owner Ewald Tscheppe decided to make Ex Vero III from those highest elevations and the more fertile soils would produce Ex Vero I, leaving the middle part of the hill to the Ex Vero II. The vines grow on marl known locally as Opok. Ewald's wines are expressive and fascinating cuvées of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc (most of the time, anyway). High acidity from early harvest is tamed with extended time on the fine lees in used oak barrels of various origins. Ewald's skin-fermented wines, the Freude (joy) and Glück (good fortune) are bottled in clay and will have fermented on their skins anywhere from a week to a full year.