The estate's three parcels, Hochegg, Koregg, and Kreuzegg, have been gradually replanted since 1998 with Blaufränkisch, Pinot Noir, Morillon (Chardonnay), and Rotburger. Koregg stands apart from the other two, sparser and sun-baked with an almost Mediterranean character, thick with wild thyme, while Hochegg and Kreuzegg carry the dense biodiversity typical of the mountain's steep, untreated slopes. Harvest starts in late September and runs into October, with each parcel and variety vinified separately and macerated through fermentation. The wines rest in old oak for a year or longer, receive no sulphur dioxide at any stage, and are bottled by hand after a spring-water rinse. It's a small, exacting operation, and the wines carry the mark of that attention in every glass.
Grapes: Blaufrankisch
Region: Styria, Austria
Vintage: 2021
Vinification: Destemmed fruit from the Koregg vineyard – Macerated until the end of fermentation, so around 2 weeks, then aged in old oak barrels with occasional battonage for 1 year.
Aging: 1 year
Fining or Filtering: None
Sulfur: Minimal added
Notes from the Importer: Karl and Eva's home and cellar sit at the base of the Sausal mountain in South Styria. The house began as a roadside inn, opened by Karl's maternal grandfather, where local customers gathered to drink. Karl's mother later married a man from the far side of the mountain who owned vineyards there, a smart move for the business, and presumably for the heart too, and the couple took over the inn together, pouring wine from his land. The vines grow on extremely steep terrain and have never been treated with chemical pesticides or fertilizer. Since 1998, Karl and Eva have farmed them the traditional way: minimal sulphur and kaolin, homemade plant tisanes (nettle, horsetail, yarrow) brewed in two 1,000-liter tanks, and rows scythed entirely by hand, with the middles left uncut. The mountain's geology sets it apart: Sausal predates the Alps and was never underwater, so its soil is made entirely of weathered primary rock (schist, silica, quartz), without a trace of limestone or clay, a genuine rarity in wine country.
