In the end, glory is a less inspiring attachment than purpose. On our vineyard walk, I asked Martin, ‘Had you not lost your job, would you still be driving that truck?’ He found that question silly: ‘100%.’ Martin Muthenthaler never would have chosen this path and yet he found his way home. He truly loves what he does.”

BRIAN MCCLINTIC MS

A 'one-man' operation in the truest sense of the phrase, Martin was a truck driver for Domäne Wachau for 20 years before he started making wine of his own in the Spitzer Graben valley in Austria's famous Wachau region.

Since 2006 he has been cultivating 3 hectares of vines - all organic since the 2010 vintage - planted on poor rocky soils at high altitudes. All fruit is hand harvested by Martin, and fermented spontaneously with ambient yeast.

​

Back in the 1980s, Martin Muthenthaler was working for the local cooperative Domäne Wachau, as his vineyards high up in the Spitzer Graben (the coolest part of the Wachau) wouldn’t always produce prime fruit due to the cool winds coming from the continental plate.

Physiological ripeness in his grapes was the exception rather than the rule. Despite possessing the same terroir, a few families would rarely bottle their own wine. So in the early 2000s, when Martin eventually moved on from his day job, he decided that it was time for a change.

​

Fast forward to 2020, Martin is now one of only a handful of growers in the Wachau practicing organic viticulture, as well as producing wines without the local classification system which values the quality of wine based on alcohol levels - a value system that may have worked back in the 1980s when temperatures were more moderate and only healthy, non-botrytized grapes were harvested.

However, in today’s context balance is more important than the level of ripeness. Strangely, both working organically and preferring to stay out of the common system has made Martin a persona non grata in the Wachau, selling his few thousand bottles exclusively outside of the Wachau region. His single-vineyard wines from 'Bruck' and 'Schön’, as well as his monopole Cru 'Viesslinger Stern' on top of the mountain, are among some of the most celebrated wines coming out of Austria today.