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Christian Tschida

Himmel auf Erden Red 2019

Price: $44.95
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Tasting notes

This is a red wine that leads with sour cherry and white pepper rather than extraction or oak — it is juicy, piquant, and unusually light on its feet for a Cabernet-dominant blend. The doppelstock-trained Eisner vines and the Pannonian-influenced acidity give it a tensile quality that keeps you reaching for another glass.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
Sour CherryWhite PepperRaspberryEarth
  • Style: Dry, light-bodied red; Cabernet Sauvignon and Zweigelt; sour cherry, white pepper; 12% ABV
  • Grapes & Terroir: 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Zweigelt; organic and biodynamic; sandy gravel, schist, and limestone soils; Illmitz, Neusiedlersee, Burgenland
  • Winemaking: Hand-harvested; foot-crushed; indigenous yeast fermentation in large barrels; no racking; 1 year in 500-1500L barrels; unfined, unfiltered, zero sulfur added
  • Serving: Serve at 60F; slight chill preserves freshness; 15-20 min decant optional
  • Pairing: Salmon, roasted duck, soft washed-rind cheese, charcuterie, oily fish
  • Similar To: For fans of light, precise natural reds who want fresh fruit and Pannonian acidity over extraction

Himmel auf Erden Red is a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Zweigelt grown on sandy gravel, schist, and limestone soils in Illmitz, on the eastern shore of Lake Neusiedl in Burgenland, Austria. The vines are old, including fruit from the 60-plus-year-old Eisner plot, which is trained in the traditional doppelstock system — two vines planted side by side to compete for nutrients and push roots deeper. The estate, farmed organically and biodynamically, has been in the Tschida family for four generations since the 19th century.

Grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed, and foot-crushed in closed-top tanks positioned in the shade outside. The juice ferments with indigenous yeast in large barrels with no racking. It ages for one year in 500 to 1500-liter barrels and is bottled without fining, filtering, or any addition of sulfur. Only 55% of the potential volume is pressed, using a Bucher vertical basket press that applies pressure described as no firmer than a handshake.

The wine opens with sour cherry and white pepper aromatics and a piquant, Pannonian-influenced acidity. The palate is juicy and fruit-forward but not heavy — Christian Tschida has consistently aimed for fresh, elegant reds with moderate alcohol rather than extracted, powerful ones. Himmel auf Erden, which translates to Heaven on Earth, is his entry-level red, and it drinks with more energy and precision than that label suggests.

The piquant acidity and light body make this a good match for oily fish like salmon or mackerel, roasted chicken, and duck. It also works well with charcuterie and soft, washed-rind cheeses. Serve slightly cool at 60F to keep the freshness intact.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Red Wine
Wine Style:, Light Body
Grapes:, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zweigelt
Farming:, Organic and Biodynamic
Vintage:, 2019
Alcohol:, 12%
Country:, Austria
Region:, Burgenland
Appellation:, Burgenland
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


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If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


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2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

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If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Christian Tschida

Christian Tschida is based in Illmitz, on the eastern shore of Lake Neusiedl in Burgenland. He took over his family's estate in 2003 at the age of 27, with the goal of making fresh, elegant reds with moderate alcohol — a vision that ran counter to the riper, more extracted styles that were common in the region at the time. The estate has been in his family for four generations since the 19th century, and covers 14 hectares of vines.

Tschida's father, Fritz Tschida, was an early pioneer of organic viticulture in Austria. Christian continued that path and in 2010 converted the farm to biodynamic practices, bringing animals back to the property. The vineyards sit on sandy gravel, schist, and limestone soils. Several plots are notable for vine age and training systems, including the 60-plus-year-old Eisner vineyard, planted in the doppelstock method with two vines side by side to force deep root competition. He also uses alternating row spacing at the Edelgraben site to create shade and reduce sun exposure on the fruit.

All grapes are hand-harvested by a consistent crew Tschida has worked with for years. Fermentation takes place in closed-top tanks positioned outside in the shade, with grapes foot-stomped before juice is moved to large barrels for aging. He uses a Bucher vertical basket press set to extremely light pressure, and only 55% of the potential volume is extracted. Wines are never racked, age in large oval barrels ranging from 500 to 1500 liters, and are bottled by hand without fining, filtration, or sulfur additions. From the 2015 vintage onward, all wines have been produced without any added sulfur.

Wine region

Burgenland, Austria

Neusiedlersee is Austria's warmest wine region, averaging around 2,000 hours of sunshine annually under a strong Pannonian continental climate. It sits on the northern and eastern shores of Lake Neusiedl in Burgenland, Austria's easternmost region, bordering Hungary. The lake — 315 km² in area but rarely more than 1.8 meters deep — acts as a thermal reservoir, moderating temperatures in the surrounding vineyards throughout the growing season. The town of Illmitz, where Christian Tschida is based, sits in the Seewinkel sub-region on the eastern shore, historically known for botrytized sweet wines.

Soils across Neusiedlersee are varied: silty and sandy, rich in quartz with low carbonate content near the lake, shifting to sandy-loam and gravel inclines further inland. The basement of these soils is composed of ancient Pannonian lake sediments. Zweigelt is the dominant red grape in the DAC appellation, which was formalized for dry red wines from the 2011 vintage. Blaufränkisch, St. Laurent, and Pinot Noir are also grown. International varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon appear in the hands of producers like Christian Tschida, who farm them alongside native grapes on the region's older vine blocks.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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