Cristoph Hoch - Kalkspitz, Pet Nat, Kremstal, Austria (2021 & 22)

TASTING NOTES

Very leesy/bready with a slight manzanilla vibe of chamomile, salt and brine. On the palate this explodes with apple cider and perry notes, smoke and a zinging acidity. Another banging wine from Christoph Hoch!

Christoph Hoch is the twelth generation to make wine in his town of Hollenburg, found at the easternmost point of the Kremstal wine appelation of Austria. After initially getting involved with his family’s winery in 2009, Hoch went solo in 2013, starting with just five hectares. Today, he has 12 hectares total, all in Hollenburg, and each one farmed biodynamically.

The vineyards of Hollenburg are dominated by a unique subsoil type called conglomerate, which is essentially solidified river sediment formed when the ancient Traisen river carrying Alpine chalk crashed into the Danube, compacting the chalk and the river pebbles together. Held by calcium carbonate, Hoch compares conglomerate to the chalk and limestone of Champagne. He believes in blending various vintages as the interplay between reductive and oxidative elements lend his wines high stability and a long shelf-life; he feels that limiting a wine to a single vintage does not show the best of the terroir expression.

Most of his wines are non-vintage, with a dominant base year and previous vintages blended in. The youngest vintages give the wines freshness and vivacity, the middle vintage body, and the last vintage is normally the most structured. The combination gives the most complete and complex expression of Hollenburg, irrespective of vintage. Hoch makes multiple batches of wine each year, utilising two different cellars (warmer cellar for malo fermentation, cooler one for non-malo). The wines that make it into his final bottling are from a variety of different vineyard sites, harvest times, vinification methods and vintages.