As one of the oldest wineries in Austria, Schloss Gobelsburg has some historical vineyard sites around the castle. Every site has its specialties and particularities with different soil and micro-climatic conditions. From the sun-exposed terraces on Zöbinger Heiligenstein and the Gaisberg mountain to the extensive garden facilities around Gobelsburg castle, the vines are subjected to a wide range of conditions. In accordance with their respective potential, the best possible development conditions are established for every grape variety.
At Schloss Gobelsburg, ecological winegrowing is not just simply en vogue at the moment. The monks of the Zwettl Monastery, who had managed the winery themselves until 1995, used organic fertilizer, abstained from employing herbicides, and endeavoured to reduce the use of plant protectants.
In 1996, the Schloss Gobelsburg Winery was accepted as member of the renowned Verein der Österreichischen Traditions weingüter (Association of Austrian Traditional Wineries). This association was the first in Austria to classify vineyard locations in Kamptal and Kremstal. Some of these – usually locations with a long history – produce wines with great potential year after year and stand out from the other conventional vineyards.
The winery is working vineyards on the banks of the Danube and its side rivers. (Krems, Kampt, Traisen) When you come to the Danube area you will find two archetypes of vineyards. On one side vineyards which are based on dry and mineral which are ideal for Riesling production.
On the other side you will find vineyards that are based on Löss or clay with a good water supply to the vines, which is ideal for Grüner Veltliner. The two grape varieties are complementary and as we have the two opposing structures in our vineyards, we need the two different grape varieties to represent their personalities.
The Appellation System is easy to understand as we are differentiating between three categories of wine:
- Regional wines
- Village wines
- Single vineyard wines (Ried in Austria
Since 1992 we are working on a vineyard classification system that is differentiating between:
- Non-classified single vineyards
- Erste Lage (1’er Cru)
- Grosse Lage (Grand Cru)
In the past 25 years we have been classifying so far 60 vineyards out of 700 as ‘Erste Lagen’. As a Classification of vineyards is a long term project that will take 30 to 40 years, we will only start in 5 to 10 years with the classification of the ‘Grosse Lagen’
All wines of the estate are related to the rich history of the estate, no matter if its white, red, sparkling or sweet wine. The main focus of the production is wines of origin (DAC) in all its different categories. My primary interest is on the different expression of soil which results in a wide variety of different single vineyard wines.
As a speciality, Michael is looking after winemaking philosophies based on the rich history of the estate. This is the fundament of TRADITION Grüner Veltliner and Riesling, which pays homage to the winemaking philosophy of the 19th century. So for these wines we working in the winemaking process in the same way as it was done 200 years ago.
The Pinot Family (Pinot Noir, St. Laurent, Zweigelt) dominates the estates red wines, which are grown on the old Danube river bed, where you find feast size river pebbles like in the Rhone valley.
Sparkling wine and sweet wines are also specialities of the estate, which is rounding up the picture of Austrian wine culture.
Austrian wine has a culture of pairing food and wine. In Austria they enjoy quiet a lot of wine and they normally enjoy wine always together with food. So we as winemakers were forced to produce good food companions. This is why Austrian wine is always dry wine (with the exception of the small segment of sweet wine).
Very recently, Weingut Schloss Gobelsburg has joined Singapore Newspaper Wines & Spirits Challenge 2020 and won Two gold and silver medal in this prestigious competition.
Awarded Gold by Singapore Newspaper
2018 SCHLOSS GOBELSBURG Ried GAISBERG | Erste Lage Kamptal dac Riesling
2015 SCHLOSS GOBELSBURG TROCKENBEERENAUSLESE Niederösterreich Grüner Veltliner
Awarded Silver by Singapore Newspaper
2018 SCHLOSS GOBELSBURG Ried HEILIGENSTEIN | Erste Lage Kamptal dac Riesling
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