Wine and Science

In Auna di Sotto, the legacy of Prof. Rainer Zierock continues

In the 1990s, Rainer Zierock was something of a rock star among oenologists. He was an agronomist, a university professor, and a winegrowing consultant in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and France. But Zierock created what for him was the ideal, perfect estate winery in Alto Adige. In a manor from the fourteenth century, he founded the Dolomytos Estate Winery in Auna di Sotto on the Renon plateau.

Along with Margret Hubmann, in the late 1990s he redid the entire estate, planting 150 different grape varieties and allowing himself to be guided with everything by Greek mythology. Thus the pentagon plays a prominent role for Zierock, his wines are produced according to the pentagram principle, and he also developed a tasting system on the basis of this geometric form.

In addition, panta rhei is regarded as the leitmotif of the Dolomytos Estate winery in Auna di Sotto: everything is flowing, and specifically in the winery, as well, which is set up according to the principle of gravitation. “All work steps can be carried out using natural slopes without outside influences – all the way to bottling,” explains Norbert Marginter, who has continued to run the Dolomytos Estate Winery as the new proprietor following the ideas of the professor, who passed away in 2009.

Three hectares of vineyards are tended as close to nature as possible, the grapes are harvested with a strict selection process, they are fermented with their own natural yeast, and they spend 10 to 14 days on the skins. After that, they mature for at least 24 months in cylinders made from French oak. “All of our wines are blends of Italian and Greek grape varieties,” Marginter explains. So it is not only with mythology that the Greeks made their mark at the Dolomytos Estate Winery.
“In the winery, all work steps can be carried out using natural slopes without outside influences – all the way to bottling.”
Norbert Marginter, proprietor of the Dolomytos Estate Winery
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