Weingut Wihler

My intentions of becoming a winegrower… Hey, I am Ina. Due to my grandmothers vineyards I early got in contact with growing and also gardening since my childhood. Always helped and accompanied her. As a young adult I came back to this and one day, when I digged my hands into earth again to harvest ripe beetroot, I suddenly smelled earth and felt completely fine through the vivid, humid and healthy soil that covered my fingers. This day made my decision complete to work with soil, earth, plants and outside. Within the garden, nearby the vineyards, that always brought he same colours every spring again and again and says goodbye tot he year with its yellow, red and brown colours every harvest, I felt home and secure and a deep sense that nobody could drive out of my mind. Time went by and after school I made my decision to focus on viticulture. After some steps, experiences and exchange, I was secure focussing on organic farming was the right and only way for me, to explore the special soil Like this I started to work in different wineries, after education/ studies and 2016 I decided to take over two of the family vineyards for own wines, beneath my job, after coming home again. Things evolved and I felt secure to add more vineyards. New costumers asked for our wines & the philosophy they are driven by. Pillars that support my philosophy At first I think the most important pillar are the people around us which support the agricultural projects and basically I am really happy to have my partner Christoph who is supporting me a lot since 2019, beneath his job as a mechanical engineer. He also originates from a viticultural background and grew up with it due to his grandpartens. And we also could take over vineyards oft hem. For sure our parents help a lot, too. My father Thomas cares lovingly fort the vineyards, as much as I do. We also have two women which work seasonally together with us and meanwhile are friends. It always comes and goes with the living beeings around us. Also our costumers are true and it is fascinating tha they take our wines and us as they are. I am very thankful fr that. Last but not least there is our little dog Cara 11 y/o and she is loving being outdoor with us as much as we do. Each year we added new vineyards, and started farming them organically. In 2020 I quit my job and we decided to start the organic certification. We try to process as gently as possible within our vineyards as well as in the cave. For sure we only use our own compost as fertilizer for the soils microbiome, but only when a vineyard is in a need. Beneath organic plantprotection we spray manure which is made from tea from different plants (nettle, willowbark, yarrow, equisetum ) for example or composttea to support health of soil, plants an vines. Sometimes we add seedings when the diversitiy of leguminosa or flowers is too poor. From Oktober to march our 8 sheeps wander from vineyard to vineyard to spread their spirit and help more biodiversity to grow. From April to September they live on our orchards (we grow old apple varieties for own juice and plums we sell to gastronomy for example) to save the inventory oft he old varieties and to help biodiversity to stay we regularly plant old and robust trees (also quinces and different berries or herbs, like verveine, melissa for tea…they love our calcaric loessloam soil and the warmth which is spent from our volcanic stones.) For our own supply we regularly plant potatoes and other vegetables… Our wines are gently pressed after harvesting with friends and family by our old basket press or a bigger pneumatic press. Our juices and macerations start spontaneously. The first batches start with a pied de cuve to help yeasts to evolve. We let the most oft he thrub in the vats/barrels to have a good natural nourishment and inner surface, to guarantee a good atmosphere fort he yeasts developpment. After malolactic fermentation the wines rest on their full lees for 10 to 24month in dependance. We rack and fill with CO2 coverings/additions. We do batonnage with the „Vulkan“ wines. Our single plots do not get one. They stay quiet on their yeast, for example. Sometimes a wine gets a hint of SO2 in an earlier phase and a second and last one before bottling. It depends on its developpment. We also try to avoid add sulfurs, but not all vineyards are in a well balance, I think they need more time and we need more experience to make realls good and stable wines without any sulfurs. The most of our wines have between 20 and 40 mg/l total SO2 until now. We do not add any finings or filterings. All of our wines have a slight yeasty depot. Our sparkling wine also is basically spontanously fermented, but second fermentation we do on our own with the help of a organic yeast we buy. We also add sugur fort the méthode traditionelle…We started some small experiments with wild yeast and must and we will try on. Earlier we bottled Petnat but I wanted then to stay focused on „Sekt“. we are really thankful and happy for our way, philosophy and vineyards, looking forward for more vintages to come and improving the natural balance of our vineyards and the system they and we are living in :)