Markus Altenburger

Our approach to viticulture is an very unmodern one and the concept is “doing nothing if possible”. We let grass and herbs grow between the rows to save the soil from drying out and to build up humus and do as little as possible to avoid stress to plants and soil.

Our fields look different to neatly trimmed and properly cut vineyards you might know from fancy advertisments. Bees, butterflies and all kind of beneficial species have started to return give us an idea of natural beauty.

We prefer low interevention winemaking. Leaving barrels closed and in peace is more helpful than doing rackings and aerations all the time. Apart from that, we don’t use modern oenologic helpers such as selected yeast, enzyms, bacterias or finings.

ll our vineyards are certified organic since 2017 and situated in the village of Jois. It’s the most eastern commune of the Leithaberg DAC appellation at the northernmost point of Lake Neusiedl. Due to the influence of the lake and the nearby hills of Leithagebirge and the interaction of limestone and slate soils our vinyards are really special – in a positive sense. Our most interesting plots are bottled as single vineyard wines.

Here is the short version. Some million years ago, the area around Jois looked like the Caribbean looks today. The primary rock of the Leithagebirge protruded in some places as small islands above the primordial ocean. All kind of seaweed, corals and other sea animals inhabited the mountain under water. As the sea slowly disappeared the living forms fossilzed into limestone – the “Leithakalk”. Today this limestone gives our wines their minerality and saltiness. So above a certain sea level, the hilly range shows its primary rock – we call it slate – the slopes below show limestone and the foothills consist of chalky loamy.