This estate is one of the pioneers of organic viticulture in Austria, and has been working organically since 1976. Martin Diwald has taken over, with his wife Ulli, from his parents and the following words are his:

“We are first and foremost farmers. And I try to remind myself every day. This is what we are doing and what “winemakers” are supposed to do. We are farming our land in the most sustainable way possible, resulting in the best possible quality of grapes we can achieve. There are better years and not so good ones, but basically farming is the number one. And then there is the thing you are making out of it. In winemaking you basically just can mess it up. If you manage to get the quality of the grape in the bottle, you did it.
In terms of winemaking we do traditional / low intervention winemaking without being dogmatic. The key is always to have highly drinkable wines which are elegant, light on its feet with good acidity and structure. And this should be the case from the regional wine up to the Premier Cru and skin fermented white. If we have to filter, we filter. If we think it is better for the wine if we do not filter it, we let it be.”

Martin and Ulli are lovely, thoughtful people and are a pleasure to work with. Martin is always up to something and presenting you with delicious surprises ( it can be difficult to keep up with all of his new wines and experiments! ) but the heart of the estate is his fine Grüner Veltliners, Rieslings and Zweigelts. Plans are afoot to introduce sheep into the vineyards to add to their chickens, and each year sees some innovation. Sharing a few bottles over dinner with Martin and Ulli is always a pleasure. There is no dogma here – just minds open to ideas and always seeking to improve where possible.

The skill of Denis Deshamps, director and winemaker, is extraordinary – he is making low intervention wines in large quantities which requires a lot of skill and attention in both the vineyard and the winery. The wines are exported all over the world and have a great following. They are true wines of the southern Rhône, rich and generous with concentrated fruit.