Career
The Terraces above
the Isarco
“Katzenlocher“ is the name of the estate on which Thomas Dorfmann’s vines are located. Viticulture has been practised here since time immemorial.
It was not however until the 1970s when the farm came into the ownership of the Dorfmann family that the true potential of this prime location was recognised and the entire area, which was no longer farmed and lay fallow, was painstakingly and lovingly restored and newly planted. Up until 2018 the grapes were processed by the Isarco Valley winery; now the entire harvest is pressed, vinified and bottled directly on the estate.
Portrait of Thomas
A Life for Wine
Thomas Dorfmann was born in 1967 and from an early age winegrowing and cellar management shaped his life. His father had been cellar master at the Isarco/Eisack valley winery in Chiusa/Klausen since 1961; in 1970 he purchased the Katzenlocherhof, an age-old winery situated on the very best sites.
After compulsory schooling, Thomas attended the agricultural high school in Ora/Auer, which he completed in 1986. Years of apprenticeship in vineyard operations and the cellar at the Laimburg Research Centre followed. In 1991 he took over as Cellar Master at the Isarco Valley Winery from his father and in 1998 his parents’ estate, which he managed as a sideline for 2 decades. Since 2018 he has been a full-time winegrower and cellar master on his own estate.