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Martin Muthenthaler
A car mechanic who became a winemaker. Martin Muthenthaler runs his winery at the end of the Spitzer Graben, where the Wachau is at its coolest. His vines are rooted in pure slate at an altitude of 500 metres.
Since 2010, he has been working organically on six hectares, farmed with horses. No Vinea Wachau membership, no Smaragd categories. Only Grüner Veltliner and Riesling, spontaneously fermented, cool and smoky.
More about Martin Muthenthaler
The lorry driver who became a winemaker
Martin Muthenthaler drove grapes to Domäne Wachau when he had no idea that he would one day become a winemaker himself. In 2006, the trained car mechanic took over three hectares from his parents - steep, impassable terraces in the rear Spitzer Graben that nobody else wanted to cultivate. Today there are six hectares on thirteen plots.
„I never attended a viticulture school and never saw that as a disadvantage,“ he says. „There was never a corset of recommendations.“ You can taste this freedom: his wines follow no textbook, no appellation, no trend. The Riesling Vießlinger Star for example, shows what happens when you simply listen to the terroir.
Where the Wachau is the coldest
The Spitzer Graben rises up to 500 metres - a narrow side valley where the cold mountain air flows down in the evening and allows the grapes to ripen more slowly than anywhere else in the Wachau. The soils from Orthogneiss and mica schist store heat during the day, forcing the roots deep into the rock and producing wines with a smoky minerality.
Muthenthaler's core locations - Bruck, Vießlinger Stern, Schön and Brandstatt - are all at the limit. Monopol Stern has Grüner Veltliner vines dating back to 1950, planted by his great-grandfather. The Grüner Veltliner Vießlinger Star comes from these vines, which are over 70 years old.
Organic since 2010 - inspired by a neighbour
Peter Veyder-Malberg, another lateral thinker who had settled in the Wachau, set Muthenthaler on the organic path. The winery has been certified since 2010. He works with Horses instead of tractors in the terraces, does without herbicides, ferments spontaneously on wild yeast.
He shares this minimalist philosophy with other pioneers of the Austrian organic wine scene. On Nikolaihof in neighbouring Mautern, the Saahs family have been working biodynamically since 1971 - both wineries stand for a counter-model to the opulent Wachau mainstream style.
Wines without a corset
Muthenthaler is not a member of Vinea Wachau. No Steinfeder, no Federspiel, no Smaragd on his labels. He vinifies dry, pays attention to naturally restrained alcohol and gives the wines time. The cellar works defensively: no fining, no filtration, minimal sulphur.
The results are Rieslings and Grüner Veltliner, which are cool, slender and delicately flavoured - with a smoky stoniness reminiscent of wet slate. The Riesling Vießlinger Star 2017 is only now showing its full potential after years of ageing in the bottle. His best wines can easily be stored for ten to twenty years.