Jutta Ambrositsch
In 2004 Jutta Ambrositsch somewhat spontaneously exchanged her position as an art director in an advertising agency to become a vintner. She leased a 0.25 hectare plot of Riesling, making only 650 liters of wine in her first vintage and now spends most of her days in the vineyards. Jutta, with the help of her husband Marco, slowly gathered plots, experience, equipment and cellar space through working with the close-knit community of multi-generational winemakers in Vienna.
Today, the wines are sourced from 4 hectares on either side of the Danube river. Gruner Veltliner, Riesling, Gemischter Satz, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc are cultivated. Another vineyard with four different red varietals completes the portfolio. Jutta farms 10 different parcels spread across the city, some in Vienna’s most famous vineyards: Rosengartl, Reisenberg, Sievering, and Bisamberg. The vines’ age range from plantings in the early 1950s to the early 2000s.
Specializing in the local Gemischter Satz movement, or a precise field blend of at least three varietals that are harvested sequentially on the same day, her wines are clean and precise; classics in their own right. Recently, a push from Viennese staple producers resulted in this technique garnering its very own DAC but Ambrositsch feels that some DAC-regulations undermine what makes true Gemischter Satz unique, leading to her decision to not be a part of the system. Only carefully hand-picked grapes are vinified, in a puristic and low-tech manner, in stainless steel and large wood barrels using natural yeasts and minimal sulfur used to stabilize the wine.
