New varieties on an old estate

The Burgerhof Meßner wine estate in Bressanone is a prime example of the fact that combining the old and the new will invariably lead to something exciting. The old in this equation is represented by the Burgerhof itself, which is located on a glacial terrace at 750 meters above the episcopal town of Bressanone in Valle Isarco and has records going back as far as the 13th century. Since 1843, the Meßner family has owned the estate, which has now been in the family for five generations.

The face of that fifth generation—at least when it comes to viticulture—is Johannes Meßner. His passion for wine and sustainable operations is the leitmotif of wine production at the Burgerhof, which has been an organic farm since 1983. Johannes Meßner combines this heritage with know-how acquired at wine estates in Australia and South Africa, in North and South America, in Germany, and in Alto Adige.

And his credo is as simple as it is memorable: “A good wine is born on the vine itself,” says Meßner, a bona fide cosmopolitan on a quest for wine expertise. “Every little step in the process, from the plant to the wine poured in a glass, will characterize the wine in some way or other.” And because all wines start out on the vines, the only varieties cultivated at the Burgerhof are fungus-resistant (PIWI). The selection includes Johanniter, Solaris, Muscaris, Souvignier Gris, Regent, and Cabernet Cortis.

On the whole, however, that kind of variety is actually rather unusual at the Burgerhof, one of the tenets of organic viticulture being “as much as necessary and as little as possible.”