BIO Peter & Paul

Christoph Hoch is a new, young Austrian winemaker in the Kremstal. He started out in 2009 at his parent’s winery, making wine in a traditional style and he got bored. The schedule was too set for him. So he started experimenting in 2010 and split from his parent’s weingut in 2013. He has 5 hectares from his family spread throughout four different vineyards, all in the town of Hollenburg.

Throughout all of Christoph’s vineyards, you find a mix of mustard, rye, and phacelia. He considers all of his parcels by four categories: dry, chalky, nutrient rich, or holds water. Depending on the category, he will plant the herbs and grains accordingly. Mustard brings sulfur to the soil, which protects the plants and transfers it naturally to the wines, so that he can use as little as possible at bottling. Rye brings carbon to the soil. He knocks it down after it has grown and it creates a natural humus. The carbon from the rye works with the phacelia and creates nitrogen. As of 2015, the wines are certified organic and biodynamic.

Here are a few words about the this special project we managed to secure allocation for :

"Our winery, Winzerhof Hoch, has existed since 1640. Because of this, our coat of arms and the script date back to the 17th century. Since then, our family has been closely connected with our vineyards. Our vines have their roots in a rare form of conglomerate stone. Working with this terroir is challenging: the unique micro-climate results in totally different circumstances than in the surrounding area. We are fully aware of the challenge that this presents and we combine tradition and innovation.

"Our goal is to maintain our historical legacy and use the terroir in the expression of our wines. We want to make wines that are full of life, that give the feeling of having overcome time.”

The two saints, Peter & Paul, have always been the guardians of our winery: the antique wooden figures, more than 300 years old, still stand, to this day, at the entrance, by our gates. The three motifs, the sword, key and book, are symbols of protection. We are now using these two figures as representations of two different ways of making wine: Peter reflects our respect for the classical wine-making methods which we use, while Paul represents natural wines."