The magic of small steps


The magic of small steps

Since 1803, the Wohlmuth family and its estate in South Styria have cultivated vineyards in and around the highest winegrowing town in the region, Kitzeck im Sausal. The estate owns several of the steepest vineyards anywhere in Europe, with a nearly 100% gradient that requires tremendous work and passion. The extremely sparse slate soils quite literally call the shots here —their unmistakable character shapes each wine.
Gerhard Wohlmuth focuses on hand cultivation, reduced yields and minimalist intervention in the vineyards. The philosophy extends to the cellar as well, where he favors his own instincts and patience over trends and fads. This pushes his wines to better reflect their origins, while still bearing the distinct signature of their maker.
100% by hand
100% estate bottled
100% historic Ried vineyards
0% herbicides or pesticides
up to 100% inclines
up to 1,200 hours of labor per hectare
The Wohlmuths have been cultivating wine in Kitzeck-Sausal for almost 200 years, and the essence of their work remains largely unchanged. Now as then, the solid slate formations in the soil are pounded by hammer into fragments, with each individual vine then painstakingly worked into the barren soil. The extreme steepness of the vineyards, some over 90%, preclude any use of machines.
Labor-intensive hand cultivation is thus inherently at the heart of the estate’s work.
Morillon Südsteiermark
ALCOHOL: 12.5%
Wine description: Fresh pear, citrus, spicy, yellow apple flavours, good minerality, compact,
good food partner.
Soil: schist soil
Winemaking: Selective hand-picked, short maceration time, gentle pressed, temperature-controlled fermentation and aged on the fine yeast in stainless steal until it was bottled at the end of february.
Drinking temperature: 12 °C

Drinking description: Fish, Chicken, Pasta, cooked and grilled meat

Riesling Ried Dr. Wunsch
ALCOHOL: 13 % VOL. RESIDUAL SUGAR: 1,7 G/L RS DRY ACIDITY: 5,7 G/L TBS
Wine Classification: Südsteiermark DAC Single Vineyard
Wine description: Concentrated aromas of mandarin, pineapple, apricot and lime zest, complex minerality
Location: Ried Dr. Wunsch
Soil: red quartzite slate
Steepness: up to 100% gradient

Drinking temperature: 12 °C

Winner category Riesling 2022 rich, full body with 98/100 points (A la Carte Grand Cru Tasting Riesling): „The Wohlmuth family always cultivated Riesling in the Kitzeck area. With planting the vineyard Dr. Wunsch they established a single vineyard with slate soil in extremely steep exposure. The result is a great, tight and straight Riesling.“
95/100 Falstaff points
96/100 James Suckling points
JR17 RP94 WE97
Sauvignon Blanc Ried Sausaler Schlössl
ALCOHOL: 12,5 % VOL. RESIDUAL SUGAR: 1,1G/L DRY ACIDITY: 6,5 G/L TBS

Wine Classification: Südsteiermark DAC Single Vineyard

Soil: black slate
Winemaking: Very late and selective hand-picked, gentle and shortly pressed.
Spontaneous fermentation in old wooden casks and ageing 12 month on the yeast.
Altitude: 500-590 m

Drinking temperature: 12 °C

96/100 Falstaff points
JR17.5 RP94 WE96
Location: Single Vineyard Sausaler Schlössl: One of the most historical single vineyard in the village Kitzeck-Sausal, located on about 600 metres above sea level, south-southwest facing and completely open to the nearby alps. Because of that the grapes can be harvested very late in October.
Steepness: up to 70% inclination

Morillon Ried Sausaler Schlössl

ALCOHOL: 13% VOL. RESIDUAL SUGAR: 1,7G/L DRY ACIDITY: 5,7G/L TBS
Wine description: Complex, elegant structure, rich in extracts—Chardonnay with strong terroir-expression
Winemaking: Selective hand picked grapes, gently very slowly pressed. Slow Fermentation
in 500l wooden casks at temperatures around 20°C. Aging and batonage for several months
Drinking temperature: 12 °C

Drinking description: Classic pan-fried chicken, Wild garlic risotto, Truffle dishes


94/100 Falstaff points
RP94 WE94
Location: Sausaler Schlössl: Very steep and highly located single vineyard with very meagre slate soil. On this historical single vineyard we are able to pick grapes very late at perfect physical ripeness. The slate soil brings a lot of finess and the aging potential is very high.
Soil: Blue-black slate (paleozoic slate)
Altitude: 500-590 m
Steepness: 55-80%

Sauvignon Blanc Ried Hochsteinriegl

ALCOHOL: 12.5% VOL. RESIDUAL SUGAR: 2,9G/L DRY ACIDITY: 6,9G/L TBS
Große STK Ried (STK Grand Cru)
Wine description: Spicy aromatic, dense, mineral driven, complex and with a great potential – pure slate
Location: Hochsteinriegl: Very steep (up to 78% inclination) and highly located (500 m sea altitude) top single vineyard facing south. Affected by the meagre red slate soil, owned since 1803 by the family
Drinking temperature: 12 °C

Winner category Sauvignon Blanc 2021 and 2020 Reserve and Single Vineyards with 97+/100 points (A la Carte Grand Cru Tasting Aromatic Varieties)

95/100 Falstaff

JR 17.5 RP94 WE97

Soil: Red Slate
Winemaking: Very late selective hand-picked, short maceration time, slow and gentle pressing Spontaneous fermentation in 500 l cases, ageing on the yeast for 18 months.
Altitude: 480-520 mt
Steepness: up to 78%

Kitzeck-Sausal

The cool sister in Südsteiermark

The Kitzeck-Sausal district is often referred to as an ‘inselberg’, a geological term referring to a standalone peak. It certainly contrasts sharply from the rest of South Styria. Below the surface are several of the oldest stone formations anywhere in Austria, created over 400 million years ago during the Paleozoic era when the land rose out of the primordial sea — hence the reason its barren slate soils are completely free of chalk. The witness to this natural spectacle is the raw, almost monumental landscape surrounding the town of Kitzeck, with impressively steep vineyards and numerous terraces. The vines grow primarily at elevations from 400 to 650 meters above sea level, providing their own unique microclimate. Kitzeck-Sausal is the coolest village appellation in Südsteiermark, and strongly influenced by alpine air currents. The steep southern exposition and coolness from the Alps deliver massive diurnal shifts, tempered by slate soils that store the day’s warmth and release it slowly by night. This singular constellation is reflected in the aromas of the ripened grapes, which tend towards complexity, intensity and a pronounced minerality.
Soil – Barren slate with rock crystals
Rare phyllitic slate — thin layered, red and black in coloration, with veins of quartz, sericite and potassic feldspar.