German
When I was in Styria in September, I took the opportunity to visit a very special winemaker. For me, he is a legend and one of the greatest winemakers in the country. So I was very excited and even more delighted that Sepp Muster took the time to visit me during the harvest. Calm and unassuming like his wines, yet so direct and authentic that you find yourself engaged in deep conversation from the very first minute. First of all, the vineyards surrounding the winery are the most important thing anyway; the rest is just incidental. An hour spent talking about soil, compost, vine training, foliage work, and vineyard sites flies by. I soak up everything Sepp has to say.
Schlossberg 38
8463 Leutschach, Österreich
Telefon +43 3454 70053
Winery Size 10 ha
A quick trip to the cellar, where the old cowshed of the estate now houses the barrels and amphorae. All the fresh musts of the 2020 vintage are fermenting diligently. He just waits until it's ready; that's all he has to do here, and he doesn't want to say much about it either, as he's done a good job in the vineyard. So we taste the current vintage next door and discuss the world of wine, people, and what it should really be about. The wines are there and they are magnificent, but they still slip out of focus a little in the lively exchange. Three hours have easily passed, and then he makes me even happier than I already am: “Yes, of course you'll get some!”
Sepp Muster's wines are genuine natural wines: unsulphured, unfiltered, and bottled without filtration. However, his wines are not overly wild or freaky, but rather very restrained in fruit, downright minimalist, with taut acidity and the vibrant structure of the Opok soils. The wines are best after 5 years of bottle aging or need plenty of air and time to open up in their youth and should be drunk slightly warmer. One of the five winemakers in the “Schmecke das Leben” group..