To make good wine it is necessary to have a clear idea of how to grow and vinify your Veltliner and Riesling. Even if the winemaker just sees himself as a companion, as a kind of leading hand of his vines and grapes, a concept is needed. The corner points of my vineyard philosophy are obvious but also decisive. My ideas are mostly based on minimal intervention.
I cannot influence the weather but of course I have to react when it is raining or the sun is shining over weeks and months. It is just always a matter of quantity and intensity. I believe in a long vegetation period because the grapes accumulate additional aromas and extracts in the last weeks before the harvest. I do not trust in simple sugar analyses but taste the grapes before I harvest them and I am a firm believer in perfect balances and good acidity levels.
I know all my vines and this helps me to make the right decisions according to variety, soil structure, exposition and climatic conditions. Finally I am convinced that the key to high quality wine is based on healthy soils. Their thoughtful cultivation has highest priority.

Physiological ripeness has a crucial role in my enological aims. This excludes nearly inevitably the accomplishment of the Wachau’s lightest wine category – the Steinfeder; in very rare cases, when the year is exceptionally cool, it can happen. And what happens, happens, no matter if it is a Steinfeder, malolactic fermentation or some residual sugar in the wine. Wine has to find its own rhythm although there are limits and it would be irresponsible to not intervene at all. I control, for instance, the fermentation temperature and by choosing stainless steel tanks to emphasise brightness and fruit precision I intervene again. Additionally I am also filtering them because I think that crystal clear and shiny wines are more harmonious. Above all I grant them a lot of time on the yeasts, in order to create wines which are wholesome and vivid but at the same time complex and long-living.