IN THE VINEYARD | Gump Hof, Alto Adige, Italy
Judith Unterholzner is the co-owner of the Gump Hof winery in Alto Adige, north-eastern Italy. Her husband, Markus Prackwieser, founded the winery in the early 2000s after the family had previously been a grower. She tells us about the challenges of tending the vineyards on the steep slopes with a small team
‘The slopes on our vineyard have an incline of between 55-70%, so we have to do everything by hand. The period from May until August is by far the most intensive, mainly due to canopy management. Canopy management sounds super cool and specialist, but it is nothing more than simply cutting the high shoots and tendrils so that it doesn’t look like it like a jungle. By controlling the growth around the vine, we take away leaves that are casting shadows or preventing air from flowing through.
‘We attend to each individual vine up to 20 times a year in one way or another. You get to know them all quite well, almost on an individual basis. We have two part-time staff who help out – they also have their own small family vineyards, but not necessarily enough to make a living from, so having this extra work and experience is useful for them. And then we take on three more staff for the leaf work and harvest.
‘Other than that, me and my husband do everything. In Italy, there is a job description entitled ‘Tutto Fauci’, meaning you are supposed to do and can do everything. That pretty much covers it.
‘My father-in-law started the winery when he was 70, but sold the grapes to the local co-op. He was amazed when Markus – his son, and now my husband – said he wanted to convert all the remaining fruit and cattle fields of the family farm to vineyards – and then decrease yields and buy a load of barrels to make and age the wine ourselves. He died two months ago, aged 99, but remained curious to the end. We are currently building a new winery, and while we were at the VinItaly trade show in March, he climbed up the ladders on the scaffolding to take a look. He was annoyed that no-one had previously shown him inside.
‘We had a few events planned for his 100th birthday, which sadly won’t take place, so now we’re hoping that 2025 is a great vintage, and we can make some great wines in his honour. So far it’s looking good, but you never know. 2023 had been brilliant – not very exciting weather-wise, not too hot, not too cool, just normal. Then we got a hailstorm on September 12th, which caused a lot of damage. We decided not to do an emergency harvest, though, because that’s when you get a certain bitterness if the phenolic ripeness isn’t there yet. Some of the berries were split, meaning there was a risk of rot, and, prior to harvest, we had to take out every single berry that wasn’t healthy. It was super challenging – but we are used to it…’
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