Natural wine "Ähua": That's what's behind the special name

Spezielle Etiketten auf einer dunklen Flasche, vorne steht "Ähua", hinten "shake it, baby, shake it": Unsere jüngste Weinlinie hat es in sich und verspricht ein Weinerlebnis auf einer ganz anderen Ebene. Die Geschichte hinter diesem Produkt hat ihren Ursprung in meinen Wanderjahren. Alles begann in Österreich, wo ich zum ersten Mal in Kontakt mit Naturweinen gekommen bin. Die Natur zu spüren, die Rebsorten, den Wein wie er ist zu genießen, zu erleben - ich war augenblicklich verliebt in diese Art der Produktion. Eine Faszination, die mich nicht mehr loslässt...

In the fall of 2017, I returned home to my parents' farm for the first time in quite some time. After harvests in Austria and New Zealand and studying in Weinsberg, Germany, my backpack of experience was already somewhat full. It was the frost year 2017, a disastrous year with little yield. To make matters worse, my father Hansueli had to have knee surgery. So my parents handed over the responsibility for the harvest to me. To plan, organize and execute my first real autumn was a real pleasure for me. Many thanks for the trust!

Even though all the grapes ultimately found their way into the cellar, I admit that the autumn weeks were quite chaotic back then. Another big challenge were the many small amounts of different grape varieties that nature gave us at that time, for example the Gewürztraminer variety. Since we could only harvest a very small amount of it, I had the idea to produce the first natural wine of the Rebhalde winery from it. A whole 50 liters, i.e. a micro-vinification resulted from the grapes, spontaneously fermented and unfiltered, at that time still in a clay bottle. A small but fine production of 65 bottles. These wines were quickly sold out and we asked ourselves how we wanted to continue. My opinion was clear: I wanted to produce and sell natural wines. At that time, my father suggested the variety Roter Räuschling. He was to be right, the variety is perfect for natural wine. From the year 2018 we have developed the Red Räuschling for the production of natural wine, the Ähua-Line was born.

One question still remains unanswered: Why is the wine now called Ähua? The answer is simple, a bit philosophical and funny at the same time. While in New Zealand, I not only got to know the country and the wine. I made some new friends, including Māori, members of New Zealand's indigenous population. The history and culture of the Māori fascinates me to this day. I learned and experienced a lot about it in night-long philosophical conversations over moonlight and wine. And that's how I picked up this term, "āhua", which in Māori stands for appearance, condition, character, likeness, nature, figure and form.

Funny: Thanks to faulty communication between us and the print shop that produces our labels, "āhua" turned into the Bernese-German sounding "Ähua," which is always a source of conversation.