Tamara Kögl didn't plan to take over her parents' mixed farm in Ratsch an der Weinstraße — but the steep slopes around the Stermetzberg had other plans for her. She became cellar master in 2010, converted to organic in 2013 (no small task in Styria's humid climate), and by 2018 had gone fully biodynamic.
Her turning point came after tasting a Pét-Nat made by fellow Austrian winemakers — she realised she could never make traditional sparkling wine without sending the base wine off-site for dosage, but Pét-Nat lets every step stay on the farm. Seven years later, her Pét-Nats — worked by feel, vintage by vintage — are what the winery is known for: elegant, high-pressure, gently cloudy with yeast, alive.
The vineyards climb steep, limestone-marl slopes so demanding that machines can't reach them — everything is done by hand. It's this Kalkmergel soil that gives Kögl's still wines their signature tension and salinity, a mineral backbone underneath fruit that's never allowed to run soft.
