It was in 2008 that everything changed at Lesehof Stagård; for Urban Stagård anyway, but also for his wife Dominique, with whom he runs the Lesehof together. They took over the winery from his parents and completely turned it around, making changes from day one. Unlike the generations before them, they wanted to make wines that not only quenched thirst, but also told of them, their ideas, and their vines and vineyards.
They immediately switched to organic farming and defined goals to be achieved in slow steps. They wanted to make bold, exciting and authentic wines, wines for which evolution and tradition are two sides of the same coin, wines that are fun and others that are challenging. And they wanted Riesling.
Riesling's affinity for barren, stony soils, late ripening and the associated slow development of aromas are the basic natural conditions found here, in the western Krems Valley. And also the fact that in Riesling a wide variety of acids build up and provide low pH values; not a disadvantage in times of meteorological records.
The whole range and diversity of the variety is what the two try to reveal in 14 versions: The "urban.R" serves as an introduction, the "Rock 'n' Riesling" is the feather-light reference to German approaches, the "Handwerk" the balanced and solid bridge to the single-vineyard interpretations, of which there are now nine; Stagård's very personal attempts to get to the bottom of the Krems Valley and its facets.
Her latest project is the Vinothek in Stein, the "Wein.Cabinet".
