Old-Style Classic, New-Style Freedom

Alwin Jurtschitsch grew up in Langenlois, surrounded by vineyards, but he was never excited about becoming a winemaker. [^69^] "All the young winemakers were just talking about who has the bigger tractor, or who has more hectares," he recalls. "I never felt like being part of those country boys." [^69^] At 18, he left Austria with a plane ticket bought by his parents on the condition that he find work in a winery abroad. He arrived in New Zealand — expecting kangaroos and sun, finding rain and cold — and eventually found work at a giant winery, starting as a "bucket boy" and working his way up to press cleaner. [^69^]

But it was what came next that changed everything. In Australia, Alwin spent a month on a biodynamic marijuana farm — "the first time in my life I had learnt how to make compost out of organic cow shit" — where he was taught about biodynamics and the dangers of chemical fertilisers. [^69^] He then found himself in the Barossa Valley making "big fat Shiraz," before returning home in 2003 and meeting Stefanie, a young German woman who would become his wife and winemaking partner. [^69^] In 2003, Alwin also had his first winemaking "ceremony" — chopping the top off a barrique, getting into his boxer shorts, and jumping in to squish Pinot Noir with his feet. "Everybody at the winery looked at me like I was crazy." [^69^]

The transformative journey continued. Alwin travelled to Ecuador, working on a permaculture farm in the Amazon rainforest — "with really badass snakes and s&\*t" — where he learnt about the symbiosis of plants and fell "even more in love with agriculture." [^69^] He was offline for months, planting trees and cultivating land by hand with a machete. On his return, his father was furious that he had not worked at a winery, giving him an ultimatum: work at the family estate or go to study winemaking. Knowing Stefanie was heading to Geisenheim wine school, Alwin enrolled too. [^69^]

After Geisenheim, Alwin and Stefanie packed their Volkswagen bus and drove through France, eventually reaching the Roussillon where they worked with Tom Lubbe at Matassa — "the first time that we learnt how to judge grapes by their taste." [^69^] This was the moment that defined their future: learning to trust taste over laboratory analysis, to read the vineyard rather than the spreadsheet. In 2006, they took over the family estate and immediately insisted on converting all vineyards to organic viticulture. [^192^] The father-uncle generation agreed — on the condition that Alwin return home that year. [^69^]

Alwin and Stefanie's cellar philosophy is built on the tension between tradition and experimentation — what they call "two sides to the same coin." [^192^] Both lines share the same farming, the same vineyards, and the same low-intervention cellar approach; they differ only in expression and ambition. [^192^]

The Classic Line (Weingut Jurtschitsch): These are the elegant, terroir-driven wines that have made the estate famous. [^191^] [^192^] Stefanie manages the winemaking, using spontaneous fermentations and working without additions aside from minimal sulfur at bottling. [^192^] Entry-level wines are made in stainless steel, but all single-vineyard Erste Lagen wines are aged in large oak foudres — the same vessels Alwin's grandfather used in 1969. [^69^] [^192^] The goal is finesse: cool-climate elegance, ripe fruit balanced with fresh acidity, wines that vibrate on the tongue and sides of the mouth. [^74^] Rajat Parr described the Rieslings as "penetrating, lasting, and intense. Thrilling in their edge and precision." [^74^]

"Discoveries of Langenlois" (Alwin & Stefanie Jurtschitsch): Launched in 2016, this is the experimental line that pushes boundaries. [^192^] Skin contact, low to no sulfur, co-fermentations, and natural sparkling wines. [^191^] [^192^] The Belle Naturelle range — including skin-fermented Grüner Veltliner and a multi-variety white blend called Mon Blanc — was born from curiosity: "For the last 100 years we've pressed directly — but couldn't we be missing out on other aromas?" [^69^] The Mon Blanc blends Grüner Veltliner, Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Muskateller, Donauriesling, and Johanniter from the Loiserberg vineyard, macerated for ten days on skins and aged in 600L oak. [^74^]

The sparking wine program is equally innovative. Jurtschitsch began making traditional-method sparkling wines in 2007, but the notion of natural sparkling intrigued them further. [^69^] In 2012, Stefanie bottled wines fermenting from barrel directly under crown cap — an experiment they forgot about until Alwin encountered pét-nats in Australia with James Erskine of Jauma Wines. [^69^] This led to Fuchs Und Hase, a collaborative pét-nat project with Martin and Anna Arndorfer. The Brut Rosé NV offers "finely detailed texture and delicate acidity" with "subtle flavors of ripe plum, wild strawberry and a hint of almond" — 90 points from Wine Enthusiast. [^74^]

Alwin's journey from rebellion to refinement is captured in his evolving relationship with his father. The two were at loggerheads about stylistic direction until they shared that 1969 Loiserberg Riesling — "the most special wine for his father regardless" — made without modern technology, in foudres, with time as the only ingredient. [^69^] With that realisation, new oak was eliminated, old foudres were resurrected, and oak was purchased from the nearby forest for new foudres "which will hopefully last for centuries to come." [^69^] The Sonnhof Social Club — a 1L Grüner Veltliner made from four organic growers in the Kamptal — extends this community-minded approach beyond the estate. [^74^]