Fritsch

From war child to wine pioneer

The story of the Weinberghof begins with an escape. Karl Fritsch senior, born in Vienna in 1940, came to live with relatives in Oberstockstall as a five-year-old during the bombing raids. What began as an emergency solution became a vocation: a captivating talk by the winegrowing pioneer Lenz Moser in Krems ignited his passion for grape juice. In the mid-1960s, when most of his colleagues in Wagram were still selling their wine in containers or bottling it in Doppler bottles, Fritsch senior already had five Bouteille wines and was one of the first to venture into red wine on the Wagram.

In 1989, he founded the „Wagramer Selektion“ winegrowers' association, an organisation committed to the pursuit of quality, which he chaired for ten years. At the end of 2007, the winery was included in the Traditional wineries Austria - a recognition that is only granted to a few.

Loess, limestone and the coast of the Tethys Sea

The Wagram owes its name to the distinctive terrain on the edge of the Danube valley - a Fossilised coastline of the Tethys Sea from the Tertiary period. The thick loess deposits from the Ice Age, interspersed with calcareous marine sediment, store water and nutrients like a natural sponge. In the layers Steinberg, Schlossberg and Mordthal vines stand on slate and granite, which give the Grüner Veltliner give the wine an unmistakable mineral tension.

The Grüner Veltliner Ried Steinberg from vines up to 63 years old at 240 metres above sea level demonstrates the potential of these soils: no superficial fruit, but Depth, structure and durability. A wine that can mature for years in the cellar, becoming ever more complex in the process.

The philosophy of self-discipline

In 1999, Karl Fritsch junior took over the business and in 2006 took the logical step towards Biodynamics - for him is synonymous with „enthusiasm, life, confidence“. Membership of respekt-BIODYN enables intensive dialogue with winemakers such as Gernot Heinrich in Burgenland or Clemens Busch on the Moselle, who share the same conviction: that healthy soils and an intact ecosystem form the basis for authentic wines.

Hand-drawn diagrams of moon phases, cosmic rhythms and elemental forces hang in the cellar - not esoteric, but a daily working basis. Supplying the soil with own compost and the use of biodynamic preparations determine the rhythm of the year. The vineyards are home to a variety of plants and animals that act as a natural buffer against pests.

The silent rise of the Roter Veltliner

While Grüner Veltliner the fame of the Wagram, Karl Fritsch has brought another grape to perfection: the Rotter Veltliner. The variety, whose name comes from the characteristic skin colour of the berries, was long considered a marginal phenomenon. In the Steinberg vineyard, it regularly reaches 94 Falstaff points - Values that make Fritsch the silent star of the Austrian white wine scene.

If you like it more experimental, go for the Materia Primafermented on the skins for ten months, from Traminer and Veltliner, full of excitement and unexpected aromas - an orange wine that polarises and inspires. And then there is the Pinot Noir „P“ - Fritsch's proof that red wine of international calibre also thrives on the Wagram. Burgundian elegance meets Austrian freshness.