Meet our winemakers...
Weinbau Ottiger
Strong in character since 1981
The team around the young winemaker duo Kevin Studer and Denis Koch cultivates over seven hectares in an idyllic location in Kastanienbaum, Horw. A total of eight grape varieties are cultivated, Pinot Noir and Riesling-Silvaner form the foundation. With the continuous expansion of the vineyard area, the variety of grape varieties has also expanded.
The Winery
Ottiger is part of a small group of wineries in central Switzerland, near Lucerne. The city is one of Switzerland’s top tourist destinations, ringed by mountains and meandering lake, so the beautiful location of the vineyard is no surprise. The winery was created in 1981 by Toni Ottiger, who rented one hectare of vines on Lake Lucerne’s (also called the Lake of Four Cantons) waterfront, an area known as Rosenau. The vineyards benefit from mild weather, tempered by the lake, and poor moraine soil which is a mix of gravel and sand. The wines from the cellar’s seven hectares today are notable for the intensity of their aromas.
Meet Kevin Studer
Toni Ottiger retired in early 2022, turning over the winery to two former apprentices, both from the area, who had several years of experience cultivating his grapes and making wines for him. Kevin Studer trained as a chef, but realized while he was doing his apprenticeship that it was not work he wanted to do for a lifetime. His parents encouraged him to explore winemaking as a related option.
He did apprenticeships in Switzerland and New Zealand, then went to Germany for a three-and-a-half year bachelor’s degree in vine and wine studies. His excellent English is a fun mix of Australian (his father), New Zealand and South Africa (training but also rugby), picked up before he joined Ottiger. Studer the sportsman still spends what spare time he has going mountain-climbing and ski touring.
Meet Denis Koch
His partner Denis Koch comes from a farming family and was taught to work with nature and animals at an early age. First apprenticed as a gardener, he then worked for four years in his father’s construction business before opting to return to a greener, plant-based work world by doing a vineyard apprenticeship. He joined Ottiger in 2018 to finish his apprenticeship and the two young men quickly began to develop ideas about their future wines. He has a great knowledge of nature and when he’s not at work he can often be found in the mountains.
Forward thinking
Changes in the vineyard were started in 2020 and by 2022 they had begun restructuring the range of wines, taking a less is more approach. Toni Ottiger, the founder, was ambitious in creating many styles, with a large group of wines that gained a reputation for quality. The new owners’ goal is to carry on this work but to tighten the focus to let the grapes express the terroir as fully as possible, limiting the number of wines for each grape – there will in future be just three Pinot Noirs, for example, a grape that has always been the winery’s strength.
They take the grapes “as they come” and intervene as little as possible – which does not mean less work, but more, to raise them to be healthy and in the cellar using several “media” to ferment and mature the wines. The Sauvignon Blanc, for example, is made in concrete egg, stainless steel and oak, blended to mirror the grape’s character, to show what it can do when raised on this difficult and sometimes heavy, sandy soil.
A goal is to move towards wines that taste and feel as if they are made with old oak. Loire Valley whites serve as one example of the style they are after, but with no desire to copy, simply to show the specialness of their own terroir. The wines are one of a kind, fine examples of cool climate wines.
The Terroir of weinbau ottiger's Vineyards
In the immediate vicinity of Lake Lucerne and the city of Lucerne, fresh, straightforward and aromatic wines are produced here. The vineyard directly on Lake Lucerne offers an ideal climate for viticulture and the vines benefit from nutrient-poor gravel soils and sandy loam. The rows of vines lean south towards the lake and benefit from its temperature-balancing effect.
our hand-selected White wines
from
weinbau ottiger
Chardonnay Naturel
Wine Profile
Classic Chardonnay – very clean in the nose, typical yellow, fruit flavors, oak from barrel is present but very much in the background. Notes of pricot, peach, some citrus. The palate is well-structured, with good acidity.
Cultivation and vinification
Very small production for this limited edition wine. Made as a “natural” wine – Ottiger’s interpretation of how natural wines should be, very clean and juicy: every year a different wine is made. The Chardonnay 2021 was fermented two days on skin and then everything went into a barrel for barrel fermentation. Malolactic in the barrel and the wine was then left nine months on the yeast with no sulfur, no filtration. A very small amount of sulfur was added at bottling time.
Food pairing
This is not an aperitif wine, but one for food: grilled vegetables, and white meats.
Sauvignon Blanc Rosenau
Wine Profile
Intense scents of elderberry, passion fruit and lime. Multi-layered on the palate with fine acidity and persistent aromas. Expressive wine, elegant.
Cultivation and vinification
Berry destemming and pressing, then temperature-controlled fermentation in a concrete egg, stainless steel tank and French oak. Maturing in barrel, no malolactic fermentation, maturating on the fine lees, filtration.
Food pairing
Perfect with fish, seafood, asparagus and Asian food.
Vin Mousseaux Rosenau Brut
Wine Profile
Yeast notes and on the nose fine aromas of apricots and berries and almonds. Fine, pearly freshness mild acid. A wonderfully elegant and festive sparkling wine.
Cultivation and vinification
Bottle fermentation from the Pinot Noir grape. Whole grape pressing, fermentation in stainless steel tanks. The base wine is then bottled. Sugar and yeast are added for the second fermentation.
Available this fall.
our hand-selected red wines
from
weinbau ottiger
Pinot Noir
Wine Profile
Shiny ruby red, aromas of red and black fruits, slight spiciness, also smoky notes. Fine, rounded Pinot with an elegant finish.
Cultivation and vinification
Chilled maceration before fermentation, then traditional maceration at 28°C with manual punching down of the mash. Malolactic fermentation and light filtration. Maturing in stainless steel containers and large wooden vats. Best drunk in 1-6 years.
Food pairing
White meat, grilled vegetables, hard cheeses and pasta.
Pinot Noir Barrique
Wine Profile
Rich ruby, ripe fruit aromas of plums and red cherries, spicy scents of coffee and vanilla. Well-structured with fine-grained tannins, delicate acidity.
Cultivation and vinification
The Pinot Noir Barrique undergoes classic maceration and is then stored in French barrels for a year. Fine filtration is followed by a gentle bottling into a Burgundy bottle.
Food pairing
A very versatile Pinot, excellent with all meat and vegetable dishes.
Natural wines and innovation
The line-up includes a very small production of “natural” wines that they see as a kind of playground for experimenting. A grape that is growing in popularity in Switzerland is Solaris, a PIWI (disease resistant) grape that Ottiger introduced early and mastered. Today the winery helps 25 small growers in the area vinify their Solaris, making Lucerne a center for this specialty.
Cultivation Method
The vineyards are managed according to Vitiswiss guidelines for natural and sustainable production. all the wines are approved Vinatura, which recognizes a holistic concept and sustainable production in viticulture and in the cellar.
