Grans-Fassian

Catherina Grans took over from her father, Gerhard Grans, in July 2022, but she has worked alongside him for many years. Buying top holdings has been a constant aim. Today, their 12 hectares contain the core parcels of Trittenheimer Apotheke, Dhroner Hofberg, Leiwener Laurentiuslay and Piesporter Goldtröpfchen – some of them with parcels of over 100-year-old vines. Gerhard Grans decided to focus on dry wines. Catherina continues in this vein and says 95% of production is dry, although off-dry and sweet are still made. It is for this reason that even the oldest vine parcels have been converted from single stakes to wire trellises, even though this conversion is as expensive as re-planting a new vineyard. In her view, it allows more even ripening for her top dry wines and helps to avoid botrytis at any cost, as she can de-leaf the fruiting zone of her canopy for all-important ventilation. Catherina Grans credits this with her ability to drag out the 2021 harvest for a long time and pick really healthy grapes “with a lot of structure.” The estate has a laudable policy of keeping back 25% of the wines of each harvest in order to release them later with bottle age. Only two GGs were available to taste at the Weinbörse. Both are expressive, focused and elegant. This estate is a great lesser-known player with more potential.