Spontaneous fermentation, amphora wine, experimentation.

The Vinum Hotels South Tyrol February Wine Letter is dedicated to these rather daring South Tyrolean natural wines!

Zierock's last wine project was at Sackerhof, a 13th century farm in Unterinn, originally owned by the Curia: Dr. Margret Hubmann, the owner of the estate, generously supported Zierock financially thus enabling him to fulfil his dream of a natural "universal wine" – along with board and lodging. He planted varieties like Gewürztraminer, Riesling, and Pinot Gris and more than 150 Greek grape varieties for white cuvées ("Dolomytos") and red cuvées ("Skythos"). The first vintage, the 2000, was bottled after 4 years -, unfortunately, Zierock who was a natural philosopher, did not possess much sales talent.

Seven years ago, Bruni and her father Norbert Marginter purchased the enchanted, overgrown vineyard, worked it, dug out and rescued the historic Zierock bottles from the "cellar tunnel" that was in danger of collapsing and continue to work in the vineyard and wine cellar in the spirit of Rainer Zierock. The 2015 vintage, which has just come onto the market, was recently presented with a novelty: "Amphora", a wine cellared in amphorae - a "blend" of the 2014 & '16 vintages, one part was bottled in a glass bottle & the other in an earthenware vessel as original as a bottle of "Steinhäger" which is to be found on the shelves of the wine stores. The Marginter’s cannot complain about the success of their high-quality, even highly priced natural wine - the charisma of Rainer Zierock & his legendary, long-standing "Dolomytos" wines is uninterrupted.

After remarkable successes with Pinot Blanc, Merlot and Pinot Noir, Wolfgang Tratter, master cellarman from St. Pauls was finally able to pull off a hare-brained scheme: he cellared a Pinot Blanc in almost perfect accordance with the original Georgian wine model, a St. Pauls Pinot Blanc from vines over 90 years old growing on steep slopes in handmade earthenware amphorae! And to ferment it there for a similar length of time as a Georgian master cellarman would have done with his “Kvevri" (Georgian giant amphorae with up to a 2000 litre capacity). Its name, befitting the village of Saint Pauls: "Sanctissimus", the Holy of Holies or the most venerable: 2 months of maceration in amphorae and then again storage in amphorae for a whole year. The rebirth of this natural approach has been a resounding success.

The 2015 "Sanctissimus" has been drunk up and the 2017 will be on the market in early autumn. The barrel samples at St. Pauls Winery promise a nutty, salty, eminently crisp Pinot Blanc unfolding Georgian traits and South Tyrolean character!