Tement
Weingut Tement in Ehrenhausen farms around 80 hectares on the steep slopes of South Styria and across the border in neighbouring Slovenia. The heart of the estate is Ried Zieregg, on calcareous marl and coral limestone, a vineyard that stretches across the national border. Manfred Tement took over the estate from his father in 1976; since 2005 his son Armin has been responsible for viticulture and the cellar, and since 2010 Stefan Tement has run sales. The conversion to biodynamic farming began in 2017 and was completed in 2022. In the cellar, the wines ferment spontaneously, rest for a long time on fine lees and age in large, neutral wooden barrels. The estate's strengths lie in Sauvignon Blanc, Morillon and Pinot Blanc.
The Tement family in Ehrenhausen
In 1959, Josef Tement senior and his wife Edina acquired two hectares of vineyard in Ehrenhausen. When Josef Tement died young in 1976, his son Manfred took over the estate and, over the decades, grew it to around 80 hectares; "Never stand still, always get better" was his motto. In 1986, Manfred Tement co-founded the Steirische Klassik, known as STK, together with like-minded winegrowers, a quality initiative of South Styria; its classification into Erste and Grosse STK Lagen now appears on the labels of the single-vineyard wines.
Ried Zieregg, on both sides of the border
Ried Zieregg lies above the winery and extends across the Austrian-Slovenian border. Calcareous marl and coral limestone shape the subsoil, and because the terroir varies greatly within the vineyard, it is divided into sixteen parcels that are each worked individually. The Kapelle parcel lies directly below the Carmelite chapel, on heavy clay and loam over coral limestone, with vines around eighteen years old. The Kår sits on especially lime-rich subsoil, with the steep slope dropping at an incline of up to 70 percent. In 1991, Der Feinschmeker magazine named the Sauvignon Blanc from Zieregg the best of its kind in the world. On the Slovenian side, the family has farmed twenty hectares under the name Ciringa since 2004, the source of the Ciringa Reserve.
Ried Sulz and the other vineyards
Ried Sulz is home to the estate's Pinot Blanc, a warm basin site at 400 to 473 metres, facing south-southwest, on calcareous marl and loamy sandy soils. For the Ried Sulz Morillon, Chardonnay grows at 380 to 490 metres on loamy opok, a calcareous marl; the Kriewitz sub-site contributes chalky, limestone-rich outcrops and ranks among the oldest parcels in the vineyard, with vines dating back to the 1960s. This wine ages for 24 months on fine lees in neutral barriques and is bottled unfiltered. These are complemented by Sauvignon Blanc from Grassnitzberg and Sernau, Morillon from Rossberg, Gelber Muskateller from Ried Fürst, Welschriesling from Ottenberg and a few reds from old vines.
Biodynamics and the cellar
Since 2022, the entire estate has been farmed biodynamically; in humid Styria, this is a challenge at this scale of operation, and the decision was made jointly within the family. Armin Tement, with the estate since 2005, is responsible for viticulture and the cellar, while his brother Stefan has run sales and the Gut Pössnitzberg wine hotel since 2010. The wines ferment spontaneously and rest on the lees for a long time, with large wooden barrels used sparingly.
This restraint is taken furthest in the Ried Zieregg IZ Reserve, made using an intercellular berry fermentation method developed in 2005. Fermentation begins inside the intact berry skin, and each berry has more than 100 days to ferment slowly and store the terroir information of its vine. The grapes are then pressed, and the wine spends a further 54 months sulfur-free on fine lees in neutral oak barrels before being bottled unfiltered. The Sauvignon Blanc Kalk & Kreide carries the Südsteiermark DAC designation of origin.