A Wonderful World of Werlitsch 🌍

Source note: This post is adapted from Parched's November 3, 2026 newsletter

Hey,

It’s always nice to taste with one of your favourite producers in your home city. Not sure how Edwald Tscheppe felt swapping the idyllic rolling hills of Styria for an overcast, gloomy day in London though…

Werlitsch, is simply one of my favourite producers, all time. I’ve been quite lucky to get to know the wines intimately over the years. They’re some of the few I could confidently guess blind without even tasting. One sniff usually does it. There really is nothing quite like it. If you’ve tasted you’ll know what I mean. That pitch-perfect reduction has become an alluring calling card, one I seem to find myself going back to time and time again.

What I think makes these wines truly singular is that despite having a clear signature, a terroir imprint engrained across the range, is that they are wines that are always moving. Whether from vintage to vintage, evolving in bottle since you last tasted, developing since decanting, or across the different blends of the slope, they all show remarkable nuance. It’s hard to put into words, they feel at once instantly familiar yet intellectually stimulating. Subtlety and nuance in spades, yet held together by a tension and a sesame-laden aromatic profile that screams Styria. They speak of place, year and also vigneron. Terroir-expressive bottles that could simply come from no other producer. It might also help that Edwald is just a really nice and humble dude. His energy is infectious, and a tasting with him certainly brightened up some of that autumnal gloom that has been setting in.

In case you need some backstory, Edwald and Brigitte are, to me, clear pioneers of natural wine, not just in Styria, nor Austria as a whole, but across the world. They originally worked in a more technological way with Edwald’s brother Andreas, until blind tastings led the pair to realise their wines were indistinguishable from wines made anywhere else. Since 2004 they’ve radically transformed the operation. They instantly began farming biodynamically, which is no easy feat on the steep slopes of Styria, and have since been vinifying without input or any sulphur in the cellar. They give the wines plenty of time in barrel, and in bottle. They are patient with their wines, and we the drinker are all the better for it.

They have two mono-varietal wines in the Opok line. Both are directly pressed, with just juice sent to barrel for 12 to 18 months before release. Still a lengthy stretch for the ‘introduction’ to the range. First, a Sauvignon Blanc. It’s so steely, taut and mineral, about as crystalline as the grape gets. Lime-laced and herbal. This is about as far removed from the Savvy B they pour down the local boozer as you can get. Seriously, if you’re usually averse to the grape, I’d highly recommend letting this change your mind. You won’t regret it. Then Morillon, AKA Chardonnay. Orchard fruited and cutting, with air revealing more flesh and a savoury, oatmeal bite. A couple of older bits in there for the eagle-eyed.

They’re best known for their Ex Vero releases, which is essentially 1er and GC territory in Styria, depending on where we sit on the hill. It’s a large vineyard on a silly steep slope, with Andreas Tscheppe’s house at the top and theirs at the bottom. Looking down at this vineyard teeming with life, after a long long lunch with Andreas, is a top 3 wine moment for me. It’s magical.

It’s divided into three and these wines always see a longer elevage, with a minimum of two winters in barrel, often much longer. The ‘S’ range are bottles that never finished their ferments and were bottled with a tiny amount of residual sugar and spritz, making them weapons on the dinner table alongside anything spicy.

Ex Vero I sits at the very bottom of the slope, still 300 metres above sea level, on those Opok soils. A fine-grained, calcareous marl and silt that is iconic in the region. It’s more Chardo here, picked with a touch more ripeness than their intro wines. We’ve managed to blag a pathetic amount of the 2021, which was originally only bottled under the S range. Well, guess what? A barrel was set aside to see if it would finally finish its painfully long, slow ferment. We made it. So that’s essentially four years of undisturbed elevage in barrel. It’s heady, mineral and incredibly fine and detailed, hinting at something Jurassian with a salty lick on the finish. We got just three…

Ex Vero II is the mid-slope, and here it’s roughly an equal split of Chardo and Sauvignon. Things get steeper with less topsoil, and it’s lowkey my favourite bottling of the range. Kinda like in Burgs where the GCs sit on the perfect mid-slope, you know? I need to stop sharing my secrets. We again pleaded for just three bottles of the 2021. Again, it only finished its ferment fully four years later and has just been released. Drinks like liquid gold. The 2023 is a little more youthful and worth a look to if you’ve an acid head.

Ex Vero III is where it gets hectic steep, with vines digging into pretty much pure limestone. More Sauvignon here and about as steely as it gets. Those old vines have to dig deep through straight rock to get their nutrients. Yields are low, and concentration is so high. When people talk about minerality in wine, this is what they’re getting at. Cutting and tense young, it’s hinting at great things. Give it some air and you’ll be rewarded with one of the most transformative wines you’ll ever taste, seeing this 10 years down the line is also a life-affirming experience. Shame I don’t have the patience.

We’ve got a couple of the S range from 2022, maturing really nicely in bottle as the sugar and spritz slowly settle in after four years off the vine. Stupidly good across different sections of the slope too. Don’t sleep on these. They are not sweet wines. Barely off-dry in fact, and with a tiny subtle fizz that actually means these are incredibly food friendly. They cut through fat, they love umami, they can handle heat. A great wine for spicy meze at the Mangal, but my top tip is taking one to your local Sichuan dealer. One of these @ Xi’an Impression. My happy place. Mid Slope S. Top Slope S.

I’m thrilled to say we’ve got a dazzling array of wine online atm. Covering lots of ground too, with a handful of vintages and different bottlings. Sadly, quantities are small across the cuvées, but there’s a decent chunk to be had across the whole lot. It’s a real honour to be trusted with an allocation and to share the work of Edwald and Brigitte. There is nothing like them. A must-taste producer. Boundary pushers and benchmark winemakers who, despite being pioneers, show no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Off to Paris over the weekend for my personal favourite salon, Les Vignerons au Potager at Le Doyenné. Market research is tough. Hopefully Eurostar let me bring back some big bots. Speak soon!

Bisou,
Fionn
xox