Florian Lieleg’s Sauvignon Blanc is the best in the world. The South Styrian about his philosophy and the new cohesion on the wine route.
It is still quiet in South Styria. The wine route is only gradually waking up from hibernation and there are still no masses of tourists to be seen. The Styrian Tuscany still belongs to the local population, the winegrowers. This is also the case on the Kranachberg.
There, Florian Lieleg keeps a close eye on the vines that his family grows there on about 15 hectares. “We are currently waiting for the budding. We survived the first frost well with the wine. Unfortunately, the apricot and peach trees are all dead,” says the 25-year-old during a walk around the company, where he is now the fourth generation to make his mark as cellar master.
And with success: at the end of March, Lieleg really cleaned up in Franschhoek, South Africa. At the “Concours Mondial du Sauvignon”, the most important competition for Sauvignon wines in the world, he won the world title with his Sieme Eichberg 2021, Südsteiermark DAC – among 1210 wines blind tasted by the expert jury. “It’s just gigantic. I never expected such an award,” the South Styrian still searches for words more than three weeks later.
The passionate amateur footballer (after the match with the second team of Leutschach, it can be beer instead of wine) points out that the Adam-Lieleg winery sees itself as a family winery: “Grandma does the sales, without Grandpa don’t go into the vineyard. And none of this would be possible without my parents and my brother – everyone lends a hand everywhere.”
Close to perfection
In the field of wine, however, Florian has been a leader for a number of years. His philosophy: “Sustainability comes first for me. Although we are not an organic farm because that would not be possible given the size, we try to intervene as little as possible. We will never have harvesters or anything like that.”
According to Lieleg, the perfect wine does not exist and it must also have rough edges. “But if you can taste the provenance of the wine in the glass, you’re probably pretty close to perfection.”
The graduate of the Silberberg School of Viticulture stands for a new generation of winegrowers who are slowly taking over the reins in South Styria. “We now have a stronger sense of belonging. We winegrowers of the Sieme Group are in constant contact with each other. We also help each other. And yet our wines will never taste the same, because the result always depends on the location.”
The heavy rain of the past few days is good for the wine – now the winegrower only hopes that there will be no more frost for the ice saints.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
