Harvest has a way of accelerating familiarity.
People arrive at Gut Oggau from different corners of the world, carrying different languages, experiences and questions. Not long after, they are sitting around the same table in the courtyard, tired from the day, talking as though the conversation had started long before any of them arrived.
There is very little room to remain a stranger for long
Perhaps it is the intensity of the growing season, and most recently, the rhythm of harvest. You spend your days beside one another in the vineyards, conversations unfolding as the work does. You cook, eat and learn together, trying things you didn't know you could do. There is little separation between working and living here, and very little room to remain a stranger for long.
On a biodynamic farm, nothing exists in isolation. People don't either.
We understand the farm as a living whole, shaped by relationships that continually influence one another. For us, this goes far beyond wine. It has become a way of understanding connectedness in general.
What our interns come looking for
Our interns arrive curious about farming, biodynamics, nature, wine, or simply another way of living. What they find cannot be neatly taught; it has to be participated in. They observe, question, contribute and bring their own perspectives with them. They spend time side by side with our core team here at the winery assisting in vineyard work and learning from the hands that have been here a long time. Their questions make familiar things visible again, so the learning inevitably moves in both directions.
People come hoping to understand something about how we farm. We hope they leave having discovered something they didn't expect, about nature, other people, or perhaps themselves.
And somewhere along the way, a table of strangers becomes a table where nobody needs introducing.
Every bottle of this year will carry a little of these hands and these conversations. If you would like a seat at that table from wherever you are, the wine family is the way in.
Bring the wine family to your table
Interested in our internship programme?
Email news@gutoggau.com for more information.
From Our Hearts,
Stephanie and Eduard Tscheppe