VDP.ESTATE
WAGNER-STEMPEL

VDP: What is so special about your winery?

Daniel Wagner: Siefersheim, where we are and where we come from, is a small and tranquil place. We are surrounded by steep hills of volcanic origin, heathland, pristine streams, old quarries, and overgrown rock walls. We have been growing wine here for nine generations. Our wine estate is just as picturesque as our surroundings. You are always welcome in our charming inner courtyard around the old chestnut tree!

VDP: What is your winery philosophy?

Daniel Wagner: Handcrafted viticulture is a matter of principal for us. With a manageable size and tangible dimension, its story is transparent. The wine speaks of the area where it grows, of the climate that prevails here, and of the handicraft practiced by the people there.

VDP: For what wine style do you strive?

Daniel Wagner: The wines from Siefersheim grow in a cool climate and very special soil, a type of porphyry also known as rhyolite. In their youth the wines always have a delicate fragrance and generally a lean character. They have pronounced acidity and are light, yet at the same, time salty-mineral and expressive. This combination comprises a taut and exciting character. With no other grape variety can this intrinsic character be more transparently captured and expressed than with Riesling.

VDP: Which of your wines would you recommend to someone who does not yet know your winery – as an introduction, so to speak?

Daniel Wagner: Our VDP.ORTSWEIN Siefersheim Riesling Porphyr.

VDP: Of which wine are you particularly proud?

Daniel Wagner: Of the VDP.GROSSE LAGE^® HEERKRETZ Riesling GG. Until the nineties, the HEERKRETZ vineyard was a forgotten and neglected, steep slope south of the village. A few plots were planted, but most of the rugged, exposed slope lay fallow with rock walled terraces, heathland, and a quarry. To plant new vines in this wild garden year after year, to renovate the dry stone walls and to revitalize an entire cultural landscape – that is the greatest joy, but also the obligation of a winegrower!

VDP: If your wine were music, what would it be?

Daniel Wagner: A Divertimento. Literally – it would be a ‘pleasure’, piece of cheerful. open-air music in the spirit of Viennese classical music.