Emphasis on light, German wines

Press, 14 July 1982, Page 29

Emphasis on light, German wines

After 11 years in New Zealand, Austrian-born Hermann Seifried has managed to establish his own, interesting wine-making concern at Upper Moutere. ; His light wines, made by Weingut Seifried, Ltd, on the German principle in preference to the heavier French style, are not that well known throughout New Zealand because he prefers to sell only by order, and their only other outlet in the South Island being Warner's Tavern bottle store, ■ in Christchurch. "Today, we are talking in the German style of winemaking,” Hermann said. “They are fresh, light andfruity, "These are the kind of wines which you can drink and still drive. People like them more for their fruitiness, -and not for their alcohol content. If you only want to.get drunk, you might as well drink vodka or gin. “We are making'.the German classic style wine. Whereas, before, they were using more of the sherrytype grape for making the heavier wines,” he said. Hermann came from an apple-growing family and went to an Austrian farming college before developing his interest in wines. He then went on to study viticulture, wine making and marketing at Wuttenberg, Germany. ■ From there, he went to South Africa to gain two years and a half of practical experience with K.W.V., which he describes as the biggest winery in the world.

“I was mainly interested in the table and sparkling wines,” Hermann said. From there, he moved to New Zealand, married a New Zealand girl, Agnes, and started off slowly to establish their own vineyard. In 1973, they bought 13 hectares at Upper Moutere, then were forced to sell five of them. In 1977, he bought several hectares back, and now has increased the property to 16 hectares, 12 of them planted with grapes. "Those first years were very difficult,” Hermann re- ' calls. “I couldn’t even afford a stamp to post a letter home to my parents. “Now, we are obviously doing all right and, at our present rate of growth, we are showing definite progress. “We have a permanent staff of' only five, with no office staff or- other overheads, and that is what is keeping our production reasonably cheap. “The Moutere Hills were chosen by the early German settlers for the establishment of grapes. Unfortunately, for some unexpected reason, their plans were never realised. - "In our vineyard, all the grapes are handpicked at the peak of their ripeness. This is achieved by select picking through each'variety two or even three times. “The .grapes are processed in our cellar on the property, so there is no time delay between picking and crushing. The juice is fermented with a selected yeast;

“Temperature control during fermentation is essential for retaining maximum flavour in the wines. After re-

moving the yeasts from the wine, it is allowed to’ mature until ready; for bottling," Hermann said.’ ■