Weingut Tement

The Free Bacchus Story

Tement began converting to organics in 2005 and did not take the Demeter certificate until 2022. Seventeen years is a long time to farm to a standard without collecting the paperwork for it, and it is the sort of gap that tells you the farming came first.

The estate works about eighty hectares at Ehrenhausen in South Styria, with a further twenty over the border in Slovenia at Domaine Ciringa. Manfred Tement built its reputation; his sons Armin and Stefan run it now, with Armin's wife Monika. It joined respekt-BIODYN in 2022, the same year the Demeter certificate came through.

South Styria is the part of Austria that most surprises people who only know the country for Grüner Veltliner. The hills here are steep and cool and the signature grape is Sauvignon Blanc, made in a style with almost nothing in common with New Zealand's. Where the Marlborough version is loud and tropical, the Styrian one is tighter and stonier, closer in spirit to a good white Burgundy than to the wine most people picture when they read the grape name.

That is a useful thing to know before buying. The label will say Sauvignon Blanc and the wine will not taste like the one you have in mind.

The certification here is unusually well documented for a new listing: organic conversion in 2005, Demeter in 2022, respekt-BIODYN membership the same year, all published by the association itself. A flagship bottling and a price are not recorded yet.