The Fritz family winery is located on the right bank of the Danube, in the idyllic wine village of Thallern, a southern district of Krems. Rudolf Fritz is responsible for the wines, which come from a cultivated area of twelve hectares. The young graduate of the Krems School of Viticulture is fully committed to the typical Kremstal varieties Grüner Veltliner and Riesling, "because," he emphasises, "they produce excellent wines every year due to the climate and local soil types that prevail here." Nevertheless, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Gelber Muskateller and some Zweigelt are also in the vineyards.
Soil health, plant protection that is gentle on beneficial insects and a resulting well-functioning ecosystem are of particular concern to the young winemaker, as are short pruning, targeted foliage work and yield reduction; essential for him to be able to harvest grapes of high physiological ripeness.
Rudolf Fritz only processes grapes from his own vineyards, which, depending on the variety and condition, are either pressed immediately or left on the skins for a few hours. The wines are then fermented in temperature-controlled steel tanks. While the white wines are aged exclusively in stainless steel, the red growths, after up to three weeks of maceration and subsequent biological acid degradation, are placed in large wooden barrels, and in some cases also in small wood.
