German
I met Christian Tschida in 2011 at the first WineVibes, a mixture of wine tasting and club, in Munich. We hit it off immediately, tasted extensively, and drank plenty of other things later in the evening. Christian's wines immediately captivated me with their delicate liveliness. This unconventional winemaker, who didn't mince his words and came across as pretty cool, also impressed me right away.
Christian's wine style was a real rarity at the time—Austrian natural wine was still in its infancy and stood out much more clearly from the crowd than it does today. We weren't familiar with this style of wine at the time and were only slowly beginning to understand what an exciting movement was emerging in Austria, not least thanks to Christian's wines. However, we still lacked the courage to buy these unique and purist wines right away. It took a while before we had drunk our way far enough into the subject – and by then one of our competitors had already secured the exclusive rights to Tschida's wines for the German market. Bad luck for us.
Seegasse 36
7142 Illmitz, Österreich
Company Size 15 ha
Nevertheless, we never lost touch with Christian, as we were too fascinated by the wines and the person behind them. Over the years, we visited the winery, had regular conversations, and occasionally spent an evening together after wine fairs. There is always something unpredictable about the winemaker and his wines, and so, after many years, the opportunity finally arose to stock Tschida's legendary wines on our shelves. We are very happy to finally welcome Christian and his wines to Weinfurore. The length of this text perhaps reveals that this new winemaker is a particularly emotional matter for us, one we have been working on for a long time.
Christian is a pioneer, a quality fanatic, and a trendsetter. It seems absurd that he is celebrated as a star winemaker in France, Denmark, and Japan and has to sign autographs. However, in his own country, as well as in Germany, he is not even really noticed. He was probably just too early with organic viticulture, foregoing technology, earlier harvesting and meticulous foliage management, foregoing new wood, and sulfur-free vinification. Christian has been doing this since the mid-2000s, not just for the past few years like most natural winemakers.
His commitment to quality and attention to detail have remained unchanged, but his vineyards have changed considerably. Christian originally had his vines around the village of Illmitz on the eastern shore of Lake Neusiedl, where the winery itself is located. However, like many other visionary winemakers on this side of the lake, he was inspired by the exciting terroir of the Leithaberg. He now cultivates most of his 15 hectares of vineyards on limestone and slate soils at the northern end of the lake. With high vine density, he creates great competition among the vines, which reduces yield and promotes structure. To this end, he intensively builds up humus with his own compost production to improve the water storage capacity of the soil, and curbs the ripeness of his vines with the aforementioned laborious foliage work.
Tschida wines are lean and delicate creatures with enormous depth and a vibrant structure. Both red and white wines share a certain tenderness and a compact tannin structure. The wines from Leithaberg gain even more minerality and texture from the barren soil: on limestone with more saltiness, on slate with a dark, smoky character. Liveliness and a fascinating depth are part of the fixed repertoire of all Tschida wines.