Josef Umathum

Coming Up

In 1985, the head of the winery's wine-growing division at Weingut Umathum took on work that demanded continuity as much as precision. Josef Umathum entered that role at a point where the job was less about statement than about maintaining line after line, season after season, with each choice made against the memory of the land. Today, the winemaker role at Weingut Umathum extends that same discipline. Josef Umathum’s path from wine-growing division to winemaking reads as a deepening of responsibility rather than a shift in direction, with the work carrying forward under the same set of demands.

Where They Are Now

Hand-picked grapes, wooden-barrel maturation, and a preference for patient release define the estate’s working rhythm. In Josef Umathum’s present role, those decisions keep the wines paced rather than pushed; the result is a style built on deliberation and composure, with the vineyard setting the tempo. St Laurent 2003 marked a clear point in that practice as the first bottling with Vinolok. For Josef Umathum, it stood as a decision made with conviction, and as proof of that conviction in finished form.

Signature

St Laurent 2003, ZW Hallebühl, Vom Stein St. Laurent, and Kirschgarten are listed among Josef Umathum’s signature wines. Read together, they point to a method grounded in restraint: work that lets soil, climate, and time remain legible in the glass.

In Their Words “I chose my best wine – St Laurent 2003 – because I was convinced I was doing the right thing. And the results confirmed that I was right.” “Our wines are a liquid translation of soil, climate and history.”