Wine from the Opok Slopes of South Styria
Weingut Werlitsch is one of Austria's most revered natural wine estates — a biodynamic farm and winery in South Styria run by Ewald and Brigitte Tscheppe that has become synonymous with some of the world's greatest white wines. [^72^] [^82^] Ewald took over the family property at age 26, inheriting a history of mixed farming that stretched back generations. [^71^] [^77^] Today, the estate encompasses roughly 18 hectares with about 12.5 hectares under vine, all farmed biodynamically and worked almost entirely by hand thanks to the impressively steep, rising slopes. [^72^] [^78^] The vineyards are planted on Opok — the local name for the limestone-rich clay soils that define the region — and the wines are a radical departure from the fruit-driven, reductive Sauvignons that once dominated Styria. [^72^] [^75^] Inspired by Marcel Deiss, Gravner, and Radikon, Ewald created the Ex Vero ladder — three field-blend cuvées from the lower, middle, and upper parts of the vineyard — and later added skin-contact wines (Glück and Freude) that are bottled in distinctive ceramic vessels. [^72^] [^75^] All wines are spontaneously fermented, aged for 18–36 months in large old wooden foudres, and bottled unfiltered with extremely low or no sulfur. [^72^] [^79^]
From a Mixed Farm to a Biodynamic Sanctuary
The name Werlitsch is the historical name of the farm. When Ewald's grandfather married his grandmother, the name Tscheppe was introduced, and they took over a mixed farm where vineyards, orchards, wheat fields, and animals all coexisted. [^75^] In those days, Styria was a very poor region — people lived mainly from what they could produce themselves, with little commerce. [^75^]
It wasn't until Ewald's father took over that Werlitsch became wine-focused. He wasn't interested in raising animals, so he concentrated on viticulture and wine production for the local Styrian market. [^75^] When artificial fertiliser arrived in the 1960s, he initially embraced the "miracle of growth," but after six years he realised the dependency on the fertiliser industry was unsustainable. [^75^] By the 1970s, he had stopped using fertilisers, herbicides, and insecticides, and the vineyards returned to their natural state — though he never went fully organic, relying on fungicides as a safety net since he sold grapes rather than making his own wine. [^75^]
Ewald and his brother Andreas went to traditional wine school, and in the 1990s they recommenced wine production, initially making "more or less" classical Styrian wines — fruit-driven, technical, easy to sell. [^75^] But Ewald was getting bored. "When I think of Styria it was always about very fruit-driven Sauvignons, with a reductive style of winemaking," he recalls. "At the time I was getting a bit bored with these wines." [^72^]
The turning point came through blind tastings. When Ewald found it hard to distinguish a Styrian Sauvignon from a South African one, it blew his mind. "You have the same fertilizer, you have the same spray, you have the same technique. The knowledge is more or less the same. I felt wine is becoming more like industry, and as a small producer I felt I am not able to be competitive." [^72^] Then came his first experience with skin-contact wines from Gravner and Radikon — "so far off anything I had tasted before. It changed something in my mindset." [^75^] By 2004, the Ex Vero family was born — and Styria would never be the same.
"When I began to make my own wines, Styria was all about fruit-driven easy drinking wines which should be drunk within one year. I didn't want to work in that way. I knew what I liked in wine, and I realised quickly that with Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay on the label, it would be very tough because nobody would accept it."
— Ewald Tscheppe
Biodynamic, Demeter Certified & the Opok Soil
In the late 1990s, Ewald came into contact with biodynamic farming. Having been raised near organic farms, he was not fazed when wine school taught that organic farming was not viable for quality grapes. "I had always deeply respected organic farming; it was something that came very naturally for me," he says. [^75^]
When his close friend Sepp Muster went on a three-month biodynamic course in 1999, Ewald was inspired. "Sepp and I started immediately practising biodynamics on small parcels, making the preparations, building equipment and steering each other. That's when the biodynamic track really began." [^75^] He joined Demeter groups, visited farms to share experiences, and met Alex Podolinsky, the Australian biodynamic pioneer whose practical approach gave Ewald the confidence to convert the entire farm. He "signed the contract" with Demeter that same year. [^75^]
Today, Ewald sees the farm as an organism. "I try to build up a system where everything can work as naturally as possible. There's nothing wrong in nature — everything has its place — no plant grows without a reason." [^75^] He doesn't want the vineyard to just be a vineyard; he wants it to be an ecosystem where grasses grow high, trees live, insects thrive, and everything has its habitat. When he cuts grass, he does alternate rows so insects can jump across. The result is a vineyard with a "high potency of vitality." [^75^]
The soils are Opok — a local term for limestone-rich clay that varies drastically up the hillside. At the bottom, where there is more clay, comes Ex Vero I. From the mid-slopes, where clay and limestone are balanced, comes Ex Vero II. From the top, where limestone dominates and the soils are rockier and more free-draining, comes Ex Vero III. [^75^] The vineyards are trellised with a one-wire system at 1.8 metres, cane-pruned, with spacing between 2 and 6 metres and permanent ground cover. [^72^] This is a region that receives 1,100–1,200 mm of rain per year, making the free-draining Opok essential. [^72^] [^78^]
Full biodynamic certification since 1999. Ewald signed the Demeter contract after being inspired by Sepp Muster and Alex Podolinsky. [^75^]
Three cuvées from a single hillside: I (bottom, more clay), II (mid-slope, balanced), III (top, more limestone). Field blends of Morillon and Sauvignon Blanc. [^75^]
Limestone-rich clay that varies from clay-dominant at the bottom to rockier, free-draining limestone at the top. The defining terroir of South Styria. [^75^]
Alternate-row mowing, permanent ground cover, trees, wild herbs, and vegetables. The vineyard is treated as a living organism, not a monoculture. [^75^]
Long Elevage, No Sulfur & the Ceramic Bottle Mystery
Ewald's winemaking is built on two ingredients: a wooden barrel where the wine can naturally breathe, and time. [^75^] "You need two ingredients: a wooden barrel where the wine can naturally breathe, and time. Then, you don't need to add sulfites." [^75^] The grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed, and direct-pressed into old, large wooden Pauscha foudres. There is no sedimentation — the whole juice goes into the barrel, because "in the sediments there lies a lot of character from your vineyards. If you separate them, you have more precise, purer fruit but you lose a bit of the identity of the property." [^72^]
The Ex Vero wines age for two years in foudre, sometimes longer. The Opok single-varietal wines age for 12–18 months. [^72^] By letting the wine move between oxidative and reductive states in the barrel, Ewald believes this creates more complex aroma chains. "I was never interested in the expressive aromas that give you an explosion when you put your nose into a glass, but that disappear quickly with age. I had made wines like these before and I was bored of them. So, I tried to bring long-lasting and deep aromas to the wines." [^75^]
In 2007, Ewald began exploring skin-contact styles, creating Glück and Freude. Glück is destemmed and fermented in open cask for 2–3 weeks, then aged in two-year-old barrels. Freude is macerated with whole bunches — 100% in a good year, 50–70% in a tough year. [^75^] Initially he used Georgian qvevris, and because the wines were raised in clay, he and Sepp Muster had the idea of bottling them in ceramic vessels. They tested glass versus ceramic and found a clear difference: "When you opened the wines in the ceramic bottle, they were more open and harmonious." [^75^]
Ewald believes every material has its own quality, vibration, and identity. "If you live in a wooden house, it will feel different to living in a concrete house. This has a certain kind of influence. In our way of making wines, there isn't one aspect that makes the wine, there are many little things that make the wine unique. Every small detail is important. The more alive a wine is, the more every detail plays a role." [^75^] The only thing that bugs him is how good-looking the ceramic bottles are — "people are more attracted to the bottle than perhaps to the wine itself. I don't like this idea... but I liked the effect of the bottle so much that I couldn't not use it." [^75^]
Ex Vero II — "Raveneau Meets Dagueneau in Styria"
The Ex Vero II is the heart of the Werlitsch range — a field blend of Morillon (Chardonnay) and Sauvignon Blanc from the mid-slope of the vineyard, where clay and limestone exist in perfect balance. [^72^] [^75^]
Tasted at age 14 (the 2006 vintage), it was described by one critic as tasting "as though top Chablis producer Raveneau met top Sancerre producer Dagueneau and had a love child here in Styria." [^75^] There is nothing else quite like it. The wine possesses a haunting aroma profile that returns vintage after vintage — a kind of olfactory fingerprint of the Opok soil — combined with a fine-grained texture that has become more pronounced since the switch to biodynamics.
Ex Vero II is spontaneously fermented in old Pauscha foudres, aged for two years, and bottled unfiltered with minimal or no sulfur. It is a wine of immense ageing potential: the 2005 and 2006 vintages, released to the trade in 2016–2017, proved that 10-year-old white wine could be better than when fresh. [^72^] It is serious, fine, long-lasting — but also drinkable, even soothing, testament to the healthy ecosystem from which it comes. [^75^] ~€45–€60 / ~$50–$66.
The Werlitsch Range
Weingut Werlitsch produces a focused range of white, skin-contact, and sparkling wines from their biodynamic vineyards in Südsteiermark. All wines are hand-harvested, spontaneously fermented in old wooden foudres or clay vessels, aged for extended periods (12–36 months), and bottled unfiltered with extremely low or no sulfur. [^72^] [^75^] The portfolio is built around the Ex Vero ladder (field blends by elevation) and the Opok single-varietal wines, with skin-contact expressions in distinctive ceramic bottles. Prices are approximate and in EUR/USD.