opinion / prise de mousse


Appellation versus transformation


David Schildknecht


he dichotomy is ubiquitous, if debatable—between organizing wines by cépage or assigning the decisive role to provenance. However, the latter approach, associated with establishing appellations, seldom terminates with answering, “Whence?” Michael Moosbrugger, proprietor of Schloss Gobelsburg and president of Austria’s influential Traditionsweingüter, clearly articulates such a distinction.1


T “For


me,” he recently explained, responding to colleagues advocating for including Pinot Noir in Kamptal’s appellation (DAC), “the question is not, ‘Can we in the Kamptal render delicious, even distinctive Pinot Noir?’ The question is, rather, ‘What is the typical expression of the Kamptal or any of its vineyards?’ And this is defined on the basis of soil and climatic characteristics, but also on the basis of a region’s culture.” That said, what combination of grapes and culture typify a place is something even committed appellationists must acknowledge changes over time, without perhaps acknowledging that an appellation’s very existence militates against such change, discouraging reassessments of method, grapes, or place—an unfortunate drawback in light of climate change. It might seem a more fruitful course, and one respecting viticultural facts, to view cépage and provenance as complementary. Varietal potential must be measured against opportunities and limitations afforded or imposed by site, while site assessments obviously depend on grapes. The obviousness of this formulation proves misleading, though. And complicating matters on the cultural axis, what counts as quality is subject to fashion or even outright sea change.


These elusive issues play out in


Moosbrugger’s (and the Kamptal’s) signature site Heiligenstein and its wines. Explaining why he hides the word “Riesling” on their labels, Moosbrugger draws an analogy. “Suppose I have a bottle labeled ‘Clos de Vougeot’ and ask, ‘What is


38 | THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 79 | 2023


this wine?’ Is this a Pinot Noir marked by the vineyard of Clos de Vougeot? Or is this rather a Clos de Vougeot expressed in the medium of Pinot Noir?’ The answer to this question,” he insists, “is important. If I decide to adopt the first interpretation, then my concern is really [the grape] and what characteristics, or variations are possible with it. If I adopt the second, then I’m concerned with the question, ‘What is Clos de Vougeot?’— which at this time is expressed through Pinot Noir. ‘In what does Heiligenstein or Clos de Vougeot consist, what are [their] characteristics and typicity?’ Today, we’re familiar with one particular manifestation. In 100 years, maybe it will be some other grape that determines the[ir] characteristics. But they will still be Heiligenstein [and] Clos de Vougeot.”


An indefi nite article (of faith?) “This wine’s a Riesling,” simply means its contents come from grapes of that cépage. The indefinite article in “This wine’s a Heiligenstein” is slippery. It could mean merely that it comes from there. If so, “a” equivocates. The bottle is literally filled with Riesling. “Heiligenstein” denotes its place of origin. “A Heiligenstein” in that sense hardly suits Moosbrugger’s purpose or insistence that the wine be of a certain type. “Type” cashes out in terms of flavor. But if cépage or method change, so will flavor. The physical vineyard satisfies his condition of continuity—taste, that of typicity. With an indefinite article, appellationism conjures a power of place that would transcend mere site potential, but one it fails to delineate. Positing influence of site on taste will meet with widespread nods; positing a unique Heiligenstein character over time is tenuous given the historical record. The earliest comprehensive survey of


Austrian vineyards, Franz Josef Schams’s of 1835, documents the Kamptal’s “mighty terraced granite and gneiss hillsides […] whose wines distinguish themselves by stoniness [Härte] and longevity, among


which are praised above all those that grow on the Heiligen Stein by Zöbing and the Gaisberg by Kammern.” These sites had achieved fame already. No thanks to Riesling, though. Indications are that Roter Veltliner dominated, albeit in field blends. And there’s strong evidence that Riesling was nearly nonexistent in Austria west of Baden and Vienna, while monocépage plantings of any sort were rare exceptions. An association of Heiligenstein with Riesling surfaces in the late 19th century, but it’s unclear how this took place or even the extent to which Heiligenstein was then marketed as Riesling. Moosbrugger, in fact, is skeptical. Field blends, he avers, typified


Heiligenstein and Gaisberg into the 1970s. Yet, just two decades later, Riesling dominated, sharing minimally with Grüner Veltliner; and the vinous exceptions hardly suffice to assess supra-Riesling site potential, much less possible transvarietal site imprint. Experienced tasters can distinguish “a Heiligenstein” from “a Gaisberg” or “an Achleiten,” and it’s conceivable this was true in 1835 as well. But what does it mean to call today’s wine “still a Heiligenstein”— beyond that this is where it grew, and that where it grew has influenced its taste? “Stoniness” is a meager candidate for continuity—and anyway, Schams may well have meant “hardness.” Thirty-some years ago, as a hedge against climatic warming, Moosbrugger’s friend Willi Bründlmayer planted Cabernet Franc in Heiligenstein—and the wine is gorgeous. But if wine grapes are still planted there past mid-century, cépages might instead come full circle. Roter Veltliner is notably drought- resistant, while mixed plantings hedge against the vicissitudes of weather. A time traveler from 1835 might even recognize the Heiligenstein of 2055 by taste. 


NOTE 1. See WFW 77 (2023), pp.130–33, as well as interviews published in Trink (trinkmag.com) July 21, 2022 and September 9,2022.


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