Andreas Tscheppe, Salamander Chardonnay 2021

Andreas Tscheppe is a natural wine producer working from Styria in Austria, right on the Slovenian border. His vineyards are overflowing with life – butterflies, dragons, beetles, you name it, you’ll find it among his vines (and depicted on his bottles). He is part of the ‘Schmeck das Leben’, or ‘Taste of Life’, a collective committed to changing what Styrian wine is all about, with a heavy focus on sustainable interaction between earth and vines. Andreas and his wife work primarily with white grapes, some of which are fermented with skins to produce orange wine. Everything is hand-harvested, with grape selection taking place in the vineyard, and the wines are fermented using only natural yeasts. Sulfur additions are minimal, if there are any at all. Tscheppe’s wines spend 18-24 months in neutral barrels, allowing them to interact and integrate with oxygen before bottling.