Josef Totter 'Severin' Souvignier Gris Steiermark 2021

Josef Totter is a man vaguely reminiscent of Doc from Back to the Future: an engineer, an innovator, perhaps even a mad scientist. Born on a farm in Vulkanland, Syria, it is the land of extinct volcanoes existing at the intersection of the hot, dry Pannonian climate to the north and east and the humid climate of the Mediterranean to the south. With a family history of winemaking, Josef studied at viticultural school as a teen, moved on to engineering, and eventually began designing motorcycle engines for a well-known Austrian company. He split his time between Italy and Austria, working on motorcycles and making wine in his spare time whenever he was home based on the conventional methods he was taught in school. His time in Italy changed him by introducing him to natural wine. Inspired, he and his wife decided to move back to Austria in 2012 and commit themselves fully to natural winemaking, ripping up the family’s vines and replacing them with PiWi varietals. What the heck is a PiWi? They’re newer hybrid grapes made by crossing vinifera with more common hybrid grapes that end up being 75-80% vinifera. Josef was able to convert to biodynamics and has only needed to spray his vines with copper or sulfur maybe once every few years since 2012, a stark contrast to the some two dozen treatments he used to perform each year prior to the conversion. ‘Severin’ is made of hand-harvested souvignier gris (a crossing of seyval blanc and zähringer). 50% of the wine is direct-pressed, while the other half is fermented on skins in terra cotta amphorae for 3 weeks. Combined into large botti for 11 months of aging, it offers a rich, dense palate reminiscent of a nutty, aged pinot gris. Biodynamically grown, sustainably grown, low-intervention/natural wine, vegan.