URBAN T. STAGÅRD

My name comes from Sweden. My wines come from Stein.

I am Urban T. Stagård and have led the estate since 2008 as the tenth generation. In 1786, my mother’s family took over the Lesehof in Krems-Stein. My father brought the Swedish name Stagård, with its distinctive å, into the family in the early 1980s. Since 2008, it has also been the name of my estate.

ORIGIN IS NOT A LOOK BACK

I grew up with a long history. But tradition does not mean doing everything as it has always been done. It asks me to look closely, make my own decisions and continue the estate with a clear signature of my own.

My aim was never simply to make good wine. I wanted to make wines that speak of their place: the steep terraces of Stein, the sparse soils, old vines and the work held in every bottle. Wines with tension and clarity, made not for an immediate impression, but to develop with time.

MY OWN PATH

I began converting the vineyards to organic farming in 2005. Working biodynamically was the consistent next step. It requires attention, patience and the willingness to observe each year anew instead of following a fixed recipe.

In the cellar, skin contact comes first. The musts then ferment spontaneously with the natural yeasts from my vineyards. I do not use selected commercial yeasts, yeast nutrients or fining agents, and I allow the wines to mature for a long time on their full lees. I intervene only where necessary. What matters is not how much is done, but whether the right thing is done at the right moment.

GERMANY BROADENED MY PERSPECTIVE

My many journeys through Germany’s wine regions and my close contact with German colleagues decisively expanded my understanding of Riesling. Through direct exchange, I encountered different soils, climates, styles and ways of thinking. I was never interested in copying them. I wanted to understand more precisely what Riesling can be, and from that develop my own path for Stein.

The Riesling Gala at Kloster Eberbach and the International Riesling Symposium have been particular highlights for me. Different regions, vintages and personalities come together there. These tastings and conversations allow me to encounter the variety again and again from a new perspective. That is what fascinates me about Riesling: the more I know about it, the more there is still to discover.

AND AGAIN, RIESLING

For me, Riesling is the most precise language of the terraces of Stein. It can be sparse and cool, saline and taut, then later deep, open and almost weightless. No other wine shows me so clearly how site, vintage and time work together.

That is why my Rieslings receive the time they need. Some are accessible early, while others need years. I release them only when I feel that their journey has truly begun.

WHAT REMAINS

Today I concentrate deliberately on what matters: healthy vineyards, precise manual work and wines that do not need to please everyone, but carry a clear origin and point of view.

Quality begins in the vineyard. Character develops in the cellar.