Weingut Heinz Weixelbaum

Weingut Heinz Weixelbaum is the winery of Heinz and Gabi Weixelbaum from the village of Strasser in the Austrian Kamptal. It is a medium sized typical Austrian winery. A family business that is passed down from generation to generation. Everything is done by hand and the cellar is full of the most modern equipment. Heinz Weixelbaum has very good vineyards on soils of 'urgestein' and 'loess'. And Heinz dares to prune a lot in the spring, so that his wines are more powerful than most from the region.

The Weixelbaum family only makes wine from grapes from its own 22 hectares of vineyards. These are managed by Heinz, while Gabi is in charge of marketing and sales. The cellar was completely renovated about 10 years ago with the most modern equipment. Are you nearby, then you can not only come and taste wines, but you can also spend the night at the winery in one of the two apartments that are available for guests.

About 90 of Weingut Weixelbaum's wines are white, with Grüner Veltliner as the main grape, followed by Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. A small portion is made from Roter Veltliner and Chardonnay. Zweigelt and Syrah have been planted for the red wines. Weixelbaum prunes vigorously. As a result, the yield per hectare is low, but the quality of the juice is high. The white wines are fermented in steel barrels. The 'Wahre Werte' line is then educated in large wooden foeders.

The vineyards of Weixelbaum are located in the Kamptal around the town of Strasser. Part of it is located on the so-called 'urgestein', a very old primordial rock that is located in the Kamptal and which gives the grapes that grow on it (and therefore also the wines) a striking minerality. Other vineyards are located on 'loess', which is a layer of sand that has been blown into the Kamptal from the Alps over many thousands of years. The blue grapes are grown in vineyards with a soil of loam. The vineyards have a relatively large temperature difference between day and night. This is very conducive to the ripening of the grapes.

Finally - and this has a major impact on the quality of Weixelbaum's wines - Heinz dares to use pruning shears. As a result, the vines have fewer grape bunches left. Heinz Weixelbaum, he harvests no more than 4.5 to 5 hectoliters per hectare, where many colleagues harvest twice that. But that juice is therefore more concentrated and so is the wine. Weixelbaum's wines are mouth-filling and more powerful than most of the region's other wines.