Austria 2010, Second Stop: Michlits

One of the visitors asks Werner how many head of cattle he has. Werner says “350”. The visitor asks “Are they for beef or dairy?” Werner says “I use them for the manure.” He’s not joking.

An important part of the biodynamic philosophy is the “extreme” composting of manure, and keeping his entire farm biodynamic means he needs a lot of fertilizer. The farm is to be entirely self sustaining in this philosophy. It is a holistic farm with one crop helping the other to flourish without pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or chemical fertilizers.

     Fully biodynamic, with no additives in his wine which are spontaneously fermented, Werner Michlits has dozens of large agricultural hoop houses specifically for propagating predatory insects to use throughout his farm. He calls them “insect hotels”. Seeing them next to his vineyard, you realize his commitment to leading the biodynamic movement here. His resources committed to just these insects rivals most small farms and it's only a small piece of this farm. Young and passionate, with seemingly endless energy, excitement and curiosity, he pushes the limits of what can be produced naturally from his farm.

Many of the biodynamic producers I’ve visited do it strictly for the quality results they get in the end product. Studies have shown the soil on biodynamic farms has exponentially more microbic organisms, and its propon

ents show this as evidence that the process is less harmful for the environment, and therefore better for their crops. Werner is a complete believer in the entire philosophy and lives it with every ounce of his being. As he explained just the basics of the aging of manure in cow horns, creating a “tea” from it and very, very lightly spraying it in the vineyard (about a drop for every 30 square feet!) you could see a few of the visitors eyes rolling. But Werner could read his audience and knew when to cut it short before he got too in depth (plus our visit could not hold up the bus to our next producer). It didn’t prevent him from dropping tidbits of this information as we tasted the wines in his “egg room”.

His wines are lovely, full of fruit purity, elegant and balanced. Many of you already love his Pinot Noir Rosé Frizzante (one of our most popular wines in the store), his Zin-like Zweigelt, his lush Pinot Gris "Graupert" named after his unpruned vineyard, and his lovely Grüner Veltliner. He uses little to no oak, and has actually moved on to using “eggs”. These egg shaped vats are made of natural concrete with no reinforce-

ment from steel. “Steel is a cage” he says, and having these custom vats made very carefully without steel (if made improperly they will crack open!) shows how far he’s willing to push the envelope. The shape of the egg tank was adopted and updated by Werner for many of the same reasons that he follows biodynamics. Ask me in the store and I’ll give you a more in-depth version. It may sound like hocus-pocus, but the results are real... and the wines are fantastic. This year we’re going to offer 10 customers (plus Salamanzar & myself) the opportunity to “godfather” one of these egg shaped tanks. Each person will receive one magnum of the wine made in it for the next ten years for $300 and help this winery continue to progress. That ends up averaging $15 per 750ml for 10 magnums (1.5L). Interested? Ask us about it.

Coming soon: Juhfark, a Hungarian grape that Werner has planted in his vineyard just across the border in the Somlo region of Hungary (you reading this Century Club?). Tasty, and you'll love the pronunciation. Do I see another video coming?

I have to concur with Salamanzar's post from 2009 here, visiting this winery is inspirational enough to change your life.

- Grand Poobah Wine Swami