THE HIRSCH ESTATE ...
... is situated in Kammern in the Kamp Valley. The light and spacious tasting room offers a scenic view of world famous vineyards of Heiligenstein and Gaisberg.
The secret of the Hirsch estate’s success in largely based upon the complementary cooperation of generations within the winery: Josef Hirsch tends the vineyards trusting in his experience and insight regarding the processes of nature while his son Johannes makes and matures wines that showcase his feeling, taste and talent as a winemaker.
The products of the harmonious cooperation are juicy and agreeable wines that stand out due to their distinctive aromas, their complexity and firm structure and, finally, their fine balance.
THE VARIETIES :
Being ahead of ones time is often a result of counter-cyclical action. Just at a time
when the red wine boom was at its peak, the Hirsch family, that had produced
good red wines for several decades, decided to concentrate on two white varieties only.
Naturally the family picked those two varieties that thrive best in the Kamp Valley
and that can potentially produce wines of world class: Grüner Veltliner und Riesling.
The estate’s top vineyard sites offer perfect geological and microclimatic preconditions f
or culitvating these two varieties, thus producing wines the clear-cut varietal characters
of which are embedded with the distinctive regional profile of the Kamp Valley.
THE SITES :
Lamm
Profound loam soils - ideal for a expressive Grüner Veltliner
Gaisberg
Mica-schist covered with brown soils - perfect for a minerally Riesling
Heiligenstein
Desert sandstone - great for a delicate Riesling with outstanding fruit aromas
THE VINEYARDS :
For decades now Josef Hirsch has followed his creed which is: It is far better to work with nature, than to try to fight it.
In the vineyards he exclusively uses natural fertilizers which he gets from his old friend and companion Robert Paget who is a artisan cheesemaker. The goats and buffalos that produce the high-quality milk used for Paget's cheeses are also the source for the top-class natural fertilizers applied in the Hirsch estate's vineyards.
Additionally, all of the vineyards are farmed sustainably, using integrated pest management methods to control pests and at the same time to minimize the negative effects on beneficial insects, thus creating a basis for a funtioning agro-ecosystem in which natural predator-prey-communities exist.
Further quality-enhancing viticultural practices and methods include a high density of vines per hectar, precise canopy management and yield-reducing measures such as green harvest and careful selection at harvest time.
THE WINEMAKING :
All of our wines are closed with screwcaps. We were the first estate in Austria that also bottled their top wines from single vineyards in this fashion, and since then are regarded as pioneers or even modernists.
The truth is, that we are really conservative when in comes to winemaking and the philosophy behind it. Though we have and use "state of the art"-equipment in our cellar, we also make use of such quality-enhancing methods, that have been used to produce great wines for centuries – harvesting in small crates, gentle processing of the grapes, fermentation with natural yeasts and doing without chemical intervention as well as bottling late.
Time is a factor that needs special consideration. We refuse to move with the times, if that means that we cannot give our wines enough time to mature accordingly. As a matter of principle we thus bottle our single vineyard reserve wines in July of the year following the harvest. These wines are then first offered in September.
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