Philosophy

To summarize our wineries philosophy within a few sentences would be an impossible task to us. It may be due to having quite a bit of time for thinking during the work in the vineyards and cellar, which leads to a lot of philosophy piling up. Below we tried to pour the most important aspects of our beliefs into 6 points. These 6 aspects are to be seen as pillars on which our wines are build. 6 ways that lead to a honest and natural wine which we can identify with.

Organic Production

In the vineyards we work by the principles of organic production.

Since the 1950s and 60s we asked if there isn’t another way in producing wine. Especially as we always had an aversion against insecticides and herbicides. We stopped using them because we had a strong optical dislike of dead plants in the vineyards and continued to not use them as soon as the positive impact on the enviroment got perceivable. Nature started to return the favor, populations of beneficial animals started to regenerate, the ecosystem of the vineyard found back to its old balance and vine vitality increased. The Mantlerhof was also one of the first wineries to work with vineyard greening which is nowadays common practice.

If we look back we always worked with certain sustainability criterias which we had imposed on ourselves. There is one key moment which caused us to start with the certification process: in 2002 we were hit by a century flood of the Kamp river. This demonstration of power by mother nature felt like a punch in the face. But we didn’t want to punch back, but felt the more motivated to change something. We started the cerification process step by step and were fully certified by 2009.

Additionally to the obligatory criteria we try to adapt our annual circle of work to some of the co-inhabitants of our vineyards and fields. Ground work gets timed to not interfere with breeding season of ground squirrels and rabbits. Here and there we leave a bit of fallow land to nature, steep walls are preserved for nesting birds and nature conservation experts are consulted when we plan new vineyards.

Vineyards

There are only a couple of wines in our range that are not labeled with the name of a single vineyard and only 2 wines which are not single vineyard. So we are all about the smallest possible origin: the single vineyard.

Every spot of a hill has different properties: soil, microclimate, flora and fauna and a lot of other influences, how petty and hidden they may be. Many of these background influences are maybe completely unknown to us. We see it as ur passion to work out all the characteristics that make a single vineyard unique. Some of our wines we already bottle single vineyard since the 1940s into the 0,7l bottles.

This tradition is deeply rooted into our winemaker-souls. And therefore we were at the forefront when it came to the founding of the Traditionsweingüter Österreich association. The goal of this association is to classify the austrian vineyards into a system inspired by the french appellation systems. Vineyards that traditionally produced better qualities were raised into the rank of a “Erste Lage 1ötw” (premiere cru).

As a founding member of the Traditionsweingüter Österreich Sepp Mantler was involved in formulating the goals of this winemakers association.

Jahrgänge; Mantlerhof; Vintages; bio; biologisch; Roter Veltliner

True to the vintage

The basis to every quality a wine can have is laid in the vineyards. Especially important is also a very meticulous approach during harvest. You can never produce great wine from inadequate grapes.

To put the emphasis on the great grapes we harvest from our single vineyards we work in the cellar to the motto: “less is more”. We don’t add sugar to the wines and refrained from doing so for more than 70 years now. We also don’t add or reduce acidity. We also reject most fining techniques and try to work around it with other solutions. For example with tannin where we compensate high tannin with longer yeast contact or longer maturing times. Regarding sulfur we work with concentrations on the lower end of the recommended amount.

Stress isn’t good for humans neither for wine. Through a late release date of our wines (earliest half a year after harvest) we give the wines enough time to become more balanced and harmonious.

The sum of these measures (or “not-measures”) leads to the vintage having strong impact on our wines. In hot years our wines will be perceivable rounder and more powerful, in cold years they’ll be fresh and elegant. These differences are important to us as they testify that our wine is still a product of nature and not of industry!

Slow Food

Our most prestigious variety and personal passion is the Roter Veltliner. It was the first vine to be included into the “Arche Noah des Geschmacks” (Noahs ark of taste). As members of the slow food association we were very delighted and continue our pursuit in giving old local varieties the care and recognition they deserve.

vergan; mantlerhof; organic; bio; biologisch; wein;

Vegan

Due to our puristic approach in the cellar and the deliberate renouncement of most wine additives and fining techniques all our wines are free of animal products and therefore suitable for a vegan lifestyle. Controlled by the Austria Bio Garantie and certified by the austrian vegan society.

Regionality

We only work with organic grapes from our own vineyards. By doing so we can be sure that everything is done in accordance to our philosophy and our quality standards.