On the hill between Tillysburg Castle and St. Florian Abbey, the vines are already empty. The harvest took place about a month ago and the wine press at the Gustergut in Weilling in Sankt Florian is also running at full speed. The company is known for its must and juices; the orchards extend over two and a half hectares. The area on which wine grows is now just as large: the range includes Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat, Donauriesling and Pinot Gris.
The fruit processing company and farm shop are run by the sisters Irene Wurm and Barbara Wallisch. Her father started viticulture as an experiment in 2011, and 7,000 liters of wine are now produced annually.
Image: State of Upper Austria/Margot Haag
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Image: State of Upper Austria/Margot Haag
There, Regional Agricultural Councilor Michaela Langer-Weninger (VP), the President of the Chamber of Agriculture, Franz Waldenberger, and Leo Gmeiner, President of the State Winegrowers Association, took stock of this year’s wine year on Monday.
After an above-average warm spring, the late frost caused major damage in some vineyards. The summer and beginning of autumn, however, went exactly as the winemakers wanted: “The soil was sufficiently supplied with water in the spring, and the heat and dryness of the summer allowed the grapes to ripen perfectly,” said Gmeiner.
Overall, 2024 brought very “healthy and sugar-rich grape material.” The bottom line is that this year’s harvest of 350,000 to 400,000 bottles will be a third lower than average. With around 100 hectares – which corresponds to 0.2 percent of Austria’s vineyard area – viticulture in Upper Austria is, according to Waldenberger, a small niche with great potential.
“In 2003 there were only three hectares of vineyards in Upper Austria,” said Langer-Weninger. Around five to ten hectares would be added every year. There are many new varieties in local vineyards that are particularly resistant to fungal diseases. 90 percent of Upper Austria’s wine is also consumed here: an important customer is the catering trade.
The clay soils and the humid climate are good conditions, says Irene Wurm, who is deepening her knowledge at the viticulture school in Krems. The business economist worked in marketing before devoting herself entirely to wine. “One of the biggest challenges for neo-winemakers in our state was and is the lack of wine-growing know-how in the country,” says Wurm. The winemaker has big plans: in-house sparkling wine production is to be set up in the coming years.
