Plant protection

The topic nobody wants to talk about

When plant protection comes up in an interview, everyone waves it off. Nobody talks about that, it doesn't exist in winemaking.

We see it differently. Most of our quality comes from very carefully thought-out plant protection — and we're happy to talk about it, because that's the only way to learn anything.

Eleven years organic, eleven different spray plans. Something has dropped away or been added every year. It's long since stopped being just about fighting fungi for us — it's about keeping the vine so vital that it copes on its own. Strictly speaking, that's no longer plant protection, it's plant strengthening.

One advantage we had was our own ignorance: when we started, we knew nothing, and those who know nothing ask questions.

Why coverage decides everything

Synthetic products penetrate the leaf and work from within. If a single drop lands anywhere, that's enough. Organic products can't do that — they stay on the outside of the leaf and work on the principle of displacement: whatever occupies the leaf's pores leaves no room for the fungus.

So in organic viticulture everything hinges on a single factor: how completely is the leaf covered? A spot without coverage is an open door.

That's actually how you can spot us from the road. If you walk past a row of vines and the leaves show a clearly visible coating — that's almost certainly the organic vineyard. In conventional ones you see almost nothing.

The sprayer

To push coverage as far as possible, we bought what we consider the best machine currently on the market: a double-tunnel sprayer with atomisers instead of conventional nozzles.

It does two things better. The tunnel gets us very close to the vine, and the fine misting applies the product more evenly. And whatever the leaf doesn't catch is caught by the opposite side of the tunnel and pumped back into the tank.

That way the product ends up where it belongs — and nowhere else.

What we apply

We source our products locally, as far as possible:

• Chalk from the chalk factory in Mühldorf, just around the corner in the Leithagebirge
• Rock dust from the Aspang mines in the Bucklige Welt, plus a second one from Kitzbühel
• Fresh whey from a farm supplier in Wilhelmsburg
• Brown algae preparations for the vine's vitality
• Pine wood terpenes as an adhesive
• plus sulphur and copper in small amounts, as permitted by the EU organic regulation

Why we only spray in the evening

There's a saying that organic farmers always spray in the evening so no one sees them spraying.

The first part is true, the second isn't. We only spray in the evening and only below about 22 °C — because our treatments sit on the outside of the leaf and would burn the vineyard in the heat. In the Thermenregion, that's not a theoretical risk. What happens if you get it wrong is on our mistakes page.

Forecasting instead of routine

Instead of spraying to a fixed schedule, we check the weather and disease pressure daily. Vinaria forecasting system, our own observations, experience. One treatment fewer per season, if the risk allows it.

The fact that our vineyards around Teesdorf are windy and hot helps: fungal pressure isn't as extreme here as elsewhere.

Documentation, no secrets

Every treatment is logged: date, product, quantity, weather conditions, reason for treatment. The treatment log for each wine and vintage is recorded on the individual data sheet once we've completed processing.