Rebenhof

At the top of the wine road with a picturesque view of the southern Styrian-Slovenian wine country lies Hartmut Aubell's Rebenhof, which he has been making wine since 2008 and converted to biodynamic farming in 2013 - the first Demeter vintage followed in 2016.

Hartmut is committed to non-conformity and does not allow himself to be restricted by wine law or any certifications, he is a free thinker - for him there is only one way to make wine and you become aware of that with every sip.

In a way, the Rebenhof is a retro winery, because it has always been Harti's vision to work with older vine material - a philosophy he was able to learn during various internships at renowned wineries such as Chateau Hermitage in Bordeaux, Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken on the Saar or Emmerich Knoll in the Wachau.

Hartmut's wines are incomparably bursting with vitality and energy, not least thanks to his vineyards, some of which are very old and planted with the grape varieties Sauvignon Blanc, Welschriesling, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay and some Riesling - the oldest plots were planted back in the 1940s.

With a yield-reduced harvest of between 2000 - 2500 litres per hectare, authentic wines are produced with fine, subtle aromas that reflect the region in an incomparable way.On the Witscheiner Herrenberg in the south up to the Ratscher Nussberg, you find extreme steep slopes and terraces - these are ideal conditions for top winegrowing. The soils are dominated by marly silt, which is very calcareous and colloquially also called Opok, which is widespread in Southern Styria.

Nature and sustainability are topics that have a high priority at the Rebenhof: the vineyards are irrigated exclusively with their own rainwater, if necessary, and the farm's own forest is used for biomass heating.

Another important aspect is the bottling in lightweight glass bottles, which brings a further weight saving of 150g per bottle, and the packaging, which is made exclusively from recycled paper and cardboard. Sustainability is the topic of our time, we can be curious what other ideas will be implemented at the Rebenhof. In any case, we need more winegrowers like Hartmut who pursue such a goal in order to counteract climate change even more.