Name: Christoph Wachter
Winery: Wachter-Wiesler
Town/Country: Eisenberg/Burgenland, Austria
- Which spot in your vineyard is the most special and why?
It is a parcel named “Steinweg” (rocky path) on the Eisenberg. It gives the most spicy and aromatic grapes and the barrel with the wine made from grapes from the Steinweg is always distinctive.
- If you link the dots in your life, which experience was the most crucial relating to how you make your wine today?
My practical work with Dirk Niepoort at his Quinta de Nápoles in Portugal’s Douro Valley in 2009. It influenced my attitude towards terroir, minerality and freshness in wine.
- What kind of music do you enjoy listening to when making wine in your cellar?
Nothing special like Mozart or so… whatever I like to hear I play in the cellar and this is mixed from rock to house, sometimes smooth, sometimes hard.
4. Name a regional dish from your area, which matches best with one of your wines.
Braised cheek from the “Zickentaler Moorochse”; these are Angus- and Galloway oxens grazing on the peatland meadows of the Zickenbach, just a few miles away. Together with my Blaufränkisch Weinberg this is a really autochthon dish!
- Name a restaurant from your recent travels around the world, which changed the way you thought about food and why?
The Cordobar in Berlin. A wine bar with relaxed ambience but excellent food, super service and super wines. Easy and uncomplicated on a high level.
- If your wine would die, who or what would it come back as (person/animal)?
I would love the idea it becomes a star in the sky….
