Winery Hirsch

Johannes Hirsch's US Importer Terry Theise describes him as "fearless", and for the FALSTAFF Magazine he is Winemaker of the year 2011. Johannes Hirsch is the pioneer for sealing single-vineyard top-wines with screwcaps, which caused a lot of controversy at the time. He says: "For some, I might seem slightly eccentric, yet I'm actually a stubborn stag, who prefers a bit of peace and quiet. I follow my instincts and choose to ignore irritating laboratory results."

Hirsch is a true family estate in Kammern at the foot of the famous Heiligenstein. Father Josef is responsible for viticulture while son Johannes is the oenologist. Together they create uncompromising terroir wines which reflect the soils and conditions under which they were grown. The focus on Grüner Veltliner and Riesling guarantees the best of 25 hectares of outstanding vineyards exemplified by the primary rock sites Heiligenstein and Gaisberg and the excellent Lamm, Grub and Renner with their deep loess soil. Key elements in the Hirsch family efforts are love and understanding of nature and sensitive wine making skills combining traditional methods with modern technology. Open mindedness aids constant improvement of the wines. Johannes Hirsch has been a pioneer in many fields which today are regarded as the norm. Josef Hirsch has cultivated his wines nature-related for over 20 years using only organic fertilizer. The production has shifted to biodynamic principles. Extreme care is taken in canopy management, soil cultivation, and manual grape selection. The wines show good body, consistency and structure; they receive the time they need before bottling and reward the connoisseur with clarity, minerality, precision and a touch of soul and depth which can hardly be expressed by words.