Winery Falkenstein

For 400 years the estate has been owned by the Pratzner family. In 1989 Franz and his wife Bernadette took the risky step of converting the original fruit-growing farm into a vineyard. Their courage paid off - in the meantime the Pratzner family bottles over 90,000 bottles of white wines and Pinot Noir annually, exported to Europe, Asia and overseas. In 2019 Franz Pratzner was awarded the most important Italian wine prize: The "Premio Angelo Betti", which honours all those winegrowers who have rendered outstanding services to Italian viticulture and its reputation. He received the prize for his role as a Riesling pioneer who has made this white wine, which is actually typically German, socially acceptable in Italy.

The wine estate Castel Juval Unterortl located at 700 meters above sea level, at the entrance to the Schnalstal Valley. The unique location on the Juval Hill provides diverse orientations to the sun and different altitude conditions fot the individual sites. The vineyards stretch from east to west and range from 620 to 850 meters above sea level. The terroir consists of original glacial debris with gneiss rock and sandy soils. 

The estate was founded by Reinhold Messner and developed together with the Aurich family. Today, Raphael and Christine Burki are the tenants of the Unterortlhof, which passed into the hands of Simon Messner a few years ago and has been certified organic since 2023. After studying oenology at the University of Geisenheim (Germany), Raphael Burki became the cellar master of a winery in Switzerland and later in New Zealand, where he was responsible for winemaking for many years. Classic grape varieties like Pinot blanc, Müller-Thurgau, Riesling, and Pinot noir are grown and vinified on 4.3 hectares. All tasks related to the vines in the vineyard are carried out by hand. The harvest is done manually, and the grapes are sorted directly in the vineyard. Biologically sustainable viticulture is practiced, taking into account all aspects of the natural cycle in the vineyard and its sourroundings. 

At the winery, the grape material is processed with great care to achieve the highest quality. The wines are designed to reflect the typical characteristics of each grape variety and the uniqueness of the sites and terroir.