Location: Ehrenhausen, South Styria
Hectares: 6 + 1 new being planted in 2025
Farming: Certified organic, in conversion to biodynamic
Winemaking: Low sulfur, wild yeasts*

Johannes Firmenich and his wife, Martina, and family live in the idyllic South Styrian region of Ehrenhausen, widely known as the heart of Styrian Sauvignon Blanc. The winding roads here connect one winery to the next, and classic white wines are king. Johannes started working with his father, Dieter, in 2011 and fully took over winegrowing duties in 2022 so Dieter could enjoy a bit of “retirement” (although the family still keeps very busy with their wine tavern above their home, and Dieter is often found on his tractor in the vineyards). Their home vineyard, Steinberg (meaning stone hill) was planted atop an old stone quarry, and Johannes’ wines pull the very best mineral components out of the vines. This part of South Styria was covered by water historically, so shell limestone from the former seabed is the most common soil type here, and that can be found below the stone quarry layer.

Johannes is a wonderfully jovial guy, riding the line between honoring the history of classic South Styrian wines (read: yeasted, restricted, “typical” whites), and his desire to farm better and make wines with more sense of place and time. He’s extremely curious and entrepreneurial, and launched a Styrian gin project a few years ago. Called STIN, he distills right next to his cellar in what is likely the most picturesque distillery in Europe. Johannes also has a vermouth project with a friend, and an N/A sparkling tea project called Maison Tea Royal that we also import.

Farming is certified organic as of 2024 and it’s now a major focus for the Firmenichs as they convert their vineyards to biodynamics.

In the cellar Johannes works with stainless steel and French oak of various sizes, and although he experimented with some no-sulfur wines in 2021, he wasn’t happy with how they developed and he’s now returned to using low amounts of sulfur in all his wines. He makes a “classic” line of wines, mostly to be served at his family’s wine tavern, which are easy-drinking and very typical of the region. There’s his “Korallenriff” line of wines, named for the ancient coral reef, and these are wines that come from several vineyard sites. His “Limestone” line is all fruit from various parcels of their home Steinberg vineyard. And lastly the “Steinberg” line is fruit from the highest parcels of the vineyard. All in all, he makes quite a large number of wines for only 6ha.

*Johannes’ classic wines are yeasted and see slightly higher sulfur levels, out of necessity for keeping the Austrian wine-drinking public happy, but all of his other wines are wild-yeast fermented and have much lower sulfur levels.