Tamara Kögl
Tamara Kögl is a deeply passionate, creative, optimistic winegrower and it shows in all aspects of her endeavors. Whether walking in her vines and tending to her goats, to showing the ultimate in hospitality at her buschenschank (wine tavern) and b&b, to snuggling with her kids and finding time for art, there is nothing Tamara dreams about that doesn’t live on the spectrum of beauty and discovery.
Tamara’s home and vines sit at approximately 1600ft elevation overlooking incredible vistas of vineyard-covered hillsides and views to the alps. Her grandparents purchased the property in the 70s, including the home she lives in that’s more than 350 years old. At the time, Tamara’s grandfather had no idea that this area would grow into a serious wine region; he bought the house because it was a good deal and he knew nothing about growing grapes. Previous to the 80s, most people had just a few vines for making home wine, but by the early 80s, the region was flourishing with commercial wineries. Her grandparents weren’t grape farmers but they wanted to stay in Ratsch, where they were both from, so they planted vines over the years, always selling their grapes.
By the mid-90s, Tamara’s mom and dad had taken over farming and selling their fruit until one fateful vintage in 1993 when a neighboring winery had too much fruit and couldn’t take their Kögl reservation. Stuck with the grapes, Tamara’s father asked a friend how to make a bit of wine in a borrowed stainless tank. That wine went on to win a local award, which quickly pivoted the Kögls from grape growers to winemakers. Stylistically, the wines were conventionally farmed, all made in steel, and pretty much the opposite of Tamara’s style. She grew up in a no-pressure household and was never pushed to take on the winery, but as she came up in school it became clear that she should follow in her family’s footsteps or they would risk losing what they had built.
While living in the old farmhouse, Tamara’s parents built their b&b and started hosting guests on the vineyard, but they later divorced and her father left the business. Today he helps with bottling and managing the winery machinery, and Tamara has fully inherited the business and vines from her mother. Together they manage the b&b and buschenschank, and Tamara handles everything vineyard and winery related.
Her vines are mostly on one contiguous property that covers two magical hillsides in the farthest corner of Südsteiermark, not far from Rebenhof and right along the Slovene border. Soils are a mix of shell limestone, marl, and sand, and Tamara’s oldest vines are 4 rows of Welschriesling from 1963 which she always bottles as a special wine. Her property includes beautiful wooded areas, a pond, apple orchard, and a paddock for sheep which graze her orchard in the spring and summer. After over 40 years of conventional farming, she converted farming to organics and became certified biodynamic in 2020.
The Kögl cellar is a mix of stainless steel and old barrels and wines range from pet nats (a personal favorite of Tamara’s) to rosé, whites, a zweigelt, and a vermouth. She uses sulfur sparingly and only filters if necessary.
