Pranzegg

Martin Gojer of Pranzegg began exploring early on the possibilities offered by his terroir on the outskirts of Bolzano. He embedded them into a wine philosophy rooted in the cultural and traditional foundations of viticulture.

The Bolzano basin is the heartland of Vernatsch, with St. Magdalena as its epicenter. Martin Gojer’s Pranzegg estate lies just across from it, on the Kohlerer Berg. This means that most of his vineyards face northwest—a seemingly unusual orientation at these latitudes, yet one that has worked well for generations. In an era of steadily warming vintages, this exposure has increasingly proven to be an advantage.

Martin Gojer began his winemaking journey in 1997. Just 18 years old, he took over two hectares of vineyards, harvested the grapes, and sold them to local cooperatives. He did so for several years, until the routine became too monotonous. That’s when he decided to try his hand at his own vinifications.

The path he chose quickly diverged from the conventional practices of South Tyrolean winegrowing. He gradually began to explore the full potential of his terroir and to frame it within a wine concept deeply rooted in cultural tradition and historical viticulture.

CRAFTSMANSHIP

This went hand-in-hand with a growing critical reflection on what wine should represent – and what it shouldn't. He had no interest in producing market-friendly wines that pander to softened palates across all price ranges. He also saw the use of agrochemicals not only as a fundamental threat to soil vitality but, even early on, as a loss of his own agency as a craftsman—handed over to industrial agriculture.

In short, he wanted to create bold and sometimes discordant wines: wines that would tell the story of their place on one hand, while revealing his own mindset and convictions on the other.

The official conversion to organic viticulture in 2009 was a natural consequence of this thinking, followed by the adoption of biodynamic principles. Today, Martin Gojer cultivates around 4 hectares of steeply terraced vineyards with inclines ranging from 25% to 50%. Despite the thin topsoil, life thrives here: dandelions and white clover grow between the rows; peach and fig trees, hop-hornbeams, and oaks interweave and surround the vineyards, softening the monoculture. Chickens roam under the pergolas.

The soils rest on a volcanic porphyry base, overlaid by a sandy-loam topsoil. A striking number of grape varieties grow in this terrain: Vernatsch, Lagrein, Chardonnay, Viognier, Manzoni Bianco, Gewürztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, Müller-Thurgau, and a few other experimental vines planted out of curiosity. They form the foundation for about half a dozen core wines, which are occasionally joined by small-batch experiments.

In the cellar, Martin Gojer does what good winemakers do – which is both a lot and a little. On the one hand, he adds nothing to his wines apart from a touch of SO₂, and he takes nothing away: fermentation is spontaneous, there is no fining, no filtering, and no use of additives. On the other hand, he still makes a series of crucial decisions—regarding the length of must oxidation, maceration time, fermentation and aging vessels, time on lees, final blending, and aging duration, to name just a few.

Each wine is envisioned and interpreted individually. The result is a collection of wines that not only reflect their local environment and the conditions of their vintage but also bear witness to the ideas, evolution, and—one might say—the inner terroir of the winemaker himself.