In the westernmost corner of Styria, where the Koralpe mountains slide down toward the Slovenian border and the air carries the coldness of the Alps even in summer, Franz and Christine Strohmeier tend some of the most philosophically radical vineyards in Austria. For Franz, farming is not a profession so much as an ethical position: a commitment to equal exchange between human being and plant, enacted daily on steep slopes that have been producing wine since the fourteenth century.
The Green Heart of Austria
The Strohmeiers are based in Bad Gams and Stainz in West Styria, a subregion known for the pale, lip-puckering Schilcher rosé made from Blauer Wildbacher, a grape found almost nowhere else on earth. Their 10 hectares of vineyards sit at around 400 meters above sea level, planted on steep slopes of hard gneiss and schist soils. Franz began converting to organic viticulture in 1997 and has since pushed further than nearly any producer in the region.
A Naturalist's Approach
Franz uses only tiny quantities of copper and sulfur in the vineyard, supplementing with biodynamic preparations and experimenting with whey from a neighboring dairy as an alternative to copper spray. Wild grasses and legumes grow freely between the vine rows, feeding the soil without tillage. He has deliberately left a section of his vines completely unpruned for years, observing what happens when the vine is given full autonomy. Crop losses are accepted; the health of the ecosystem is not negotiable.
TLZ: Grapes, Love and Time
In the cellar, the philosophy is the same. Franz and Christine produce their wines under the label TLZ, standing for Trauben, Liebe und Zeit, or Grapes, Love and Time. Fermentations are spontaneous. Wines see extended skin contact, age in 600-liter barrels and stainless steel, and are bottled with minimal to zero sulfur additions. The portfolio centers on Blauer Wildbacher, Welschriesling, and Sauvignon Blanc, all of which express the cool, mineral tension of the Styrian highlands.
History on the Slopes
The Strohmeiers' Lestein vineyard traces its documented history to the fourteenth century. In the cellars they acquired in Stainz, bottles from the 1930s and 1940s still rest in the racks. Franz has tasted wines from those decades and uses the information to calibrate his own methods. For the Strohmeiers, a bottle of wine is a conversation across centuries.
