Wine Campus alumnus Michael Meusert honored as Young Winemaker of the Year 2025
Congratulations on winning the DLG Young Winemaker of the Year 2025 award! What does this award mean to you?
Thanks for the congratulations! As a young successor to the family business, I’m not always sure if the decisions I make are the right ones. Getting official confirmation that I’m on the right track gives me a lot of confidence.
Of course, I want to make the most of this award. That means putting in quite a bit of effort on the communication front right now. As for what the award means for the business, I’m just beginning to grasp that at this point. People perceive us very differently now, and some doors are opening much more easily than they did before. I’m really excited to see what else lies ahead.
What was the application process like?
The application process has three stages: First, you sign up for the online test—20 minutes to answer many questions. It’s very similar to an exam at the Wine Campus. The top 15 applicants are then allowed to submit three wines, which are evaluated according to the DLG tasting scheme. The ten best applicants are then invited to present themselves to the jury. This final round consists of three parts: First, you introduce yourself and your own winery. In my case, the deciding factor was likely that, in addition to the positive growth of my business, I also revived the local winegrowers’ association and, together with many volunteers from our hometown, organized numerous events.
This is followed by a blind tasting, where you can demonstrate what you’ve learned from Ulrich Fischer’s lectures on sensory analysis and wine description. Finally, the jury asks a few questions.
You completed your studies at the Wine Campus in 2022. Looking back now, which topics have been particularly helpful in your professional practice?
To be honest, there’s very little that doesn’t help. And there are a few things I wish I’d paid a little more attention to in hindsight. The topics that interested me most have also become my areas of focus at work: oenology and communication—or rather, sales. This knowledge helps me enormously today. In the future, management tasks and new concepts for wine tourism will also play a bigger role. That’s where I really benefit from the broad foundation my degree program laid.
Working on a 50-hectare irrigation system in your hometown is certainly a major project. How is the vine’s irrigation needs measured, and was this covered in your studies?
If you’re not a morning person, you can measure the early-morning water potential using the Scholander bomb. Put simply, you measure how hard the vine has to draw water from the soil. Once a certain threshold—measured in megapascals—is reached, you should water appropriately based on the requirements for quantity and quality.
A few classmates who don’t need much sleep turned this into a practical project. They presented it toward the end of the semester. That was always a great opportunity to learn from the experiences of my fellow students.
How would you summarize your bachelor’s thesis, “Comparison of Ion Exchangers and Tartaric Acid for Lowering pH in Chardonnay and Gewürztraminer Must,” in a few sentences? How did you come up with the topic?
The topic was suggested by Patrick Nikolaus. Since I’ve always been interested in how to work with wine using as few additives as possible, I was happy to take on the topic. It was a lucky coincidence that the company where I was doing my internship in South Tyrol was in the process of deciding whether the rented ion exchanger was worthwhile. That worked out perfectly.
The bottom line of my work is this: Treatment with the ion exchange resin (IAT) makes sense when the must or wine has a high pH and, at the same time, high acidity levels. In this case, traditional acidification would make the wine too acidic, whereas lowering the pH with IAT significantly reduces the acidic taste while still stabilizing the wine microbiologically.
You’re now the managing director of your own family winery (Weingut Meusert in Fahr am Main). Did you always know you’d take over the business one day? How do you navigate your studies when you have that prospect in mind from the very beginning?
Actually, until I was 17 or 18, I wantedto do everything. Anything but being a winemaker. That was because I didn’t really understand what—and, above all, why—my father did so many things in the vineyard and the cellar. On a whim, I visited the open house at the Wine Campus and was really impressed. The combination of natural sciences and the family-oriented structure of the program won me over. My questions about the “why” were answered very well.
Once I made my very first wine, my fascination with wine as a product took hold very quickly.
My path through my studies was always shaped by the prospect of taking over the family business. I focused heavily on the topics where I saw the greatest need in our operation. That often helped me get through modules I didn’t particularly enjoy. However, this also left a few gaps in my knowledge that I now have the chance to fill on my own. So I can only advise everyone to pay close attention in all their courses. It all has a purpose—even if I sound a bit old-fashioned now (lol).
At the winery, you work with Piwis, produce non-alcoholic wines, and are constantly expanding your product line. As managing director, how do you decide which old traditions should be upheld and when it makes sense to pursue new business approaches?
Apart from producing high-quality wine, the core of our business has always been a very close—and often friendly—bond with our customers. For me, this principle is the one thing that should never change. We’ve even made this the focus of our rebranding—“A Visit with Friends” has been our official company motto since 2024.
When it comes to all other issues, I ask myself: How are society and politics evolving? What’s happening in the economy? In other words, what are the things I can’t significantly influence? For example, as winemakers, we won’t be able to stop the trend toward a lifestyle with less alcohol consumption. That’s why I want to gain experience with non-alcoholic wines early on, so that in 10 years—when production methods allow for significantly better end products—I won’t have to catch up.
Of course, personal preferences also play a major role: I truly enjoy interacting with our guests and organizing events and wine walks. I also really enjoy working in the cellar and experimenting with winemaking—that’s how the quality of our wines and our selection continue to evolve. To put it briefly: If something makes sense in the long term and aligns with my strengths, I’ll make it happen.
What advice would you give your “former self” in the first semester?
I was already a pretty difficult person at 19. So I’d probably need several pieces of advice. First: Don’t be so narrow-minded. Living in a shared apartment and studying work much better when you set your ego aside and are willing to compromise. Second: Spend more time with your fellow students. You’ll have plenty of time to work later on. Third: Pay close attention, especially to the things you struggle with. The things that interest you will come to you on their own anyway.
Michael Meusert studied the dual bachelor’s program in Viticulture and Enology at the Wine Campus and graduated in 2022.
(Cover photo: Flanear Agency)
