Winery

THE PRIMUS WINERY

"Just like our wines, we ourselves are deeply rooted in this region. We would like to convey this down-to-earth nature, this groundedness and handmade character in our wines.“

Christian & Thomas Polz

 

The brothers Christian and Thomas Polz have been running their sixteen-and-a-half-hectare estate in Graßnitzberg, southern Styria since 1998. Then just eighteen and twenty-three years old, they took over the business due to the early death of their father. From the beginning, their responsibilities were clearly divided: cellar master Christian Polz takes care of the development of the wines, and viticulturist Thomas Polz is responsible for the vineyards and the marketing. Many tasks are intertwined, and that is a good thing. These brothers work hand in hand, especially when it comes to winemaking. They would like to keep the winery at its current size in order to remain true to their manual, hands-on working methods. In this respect, they are not striving for further growth. The estate received its current name in 1985, when it was converted into a winery with three hectares of vineyards and an attached wine shop. Martha and Primus Polz, the parents of the Polz brothers and the owners and at that time, acquired another nine and a half hectares of vineyard in their region and four more in the "Lower Styria" wine region in nearby Slovenia over the following years. The reasons for this acquisition were the excellent locations, the optimal orientation of these vineyards, and their geographical proximity. The best argument, however, was the predominant shell limestone and Opok1 (calcereous marl) soils. These sites offer excellent characteristics for great wines, and are located both on the Slovenian side of the Hochgrassnitzberg mountain (Kresnica), and on the Zieregg side, (Ciringa).

The soils in our Styrian vineyards consist mainly of tertiary sea sands with a weathered shell limestone subsoil, and medium to deep calcareous and loamy shell limestone soils with an adequate water supply