Born in Stuttgart, Robert Aldwin Schlumberger (1814-1879) was the founder of the famous Austrian winery. He learned the art of champagne production in Reims at the oldest champagne house Ruinart Père et Fils. On a trip to the Rhine he met his future wife Sophie Kirchner, gave up his position in Reims and moved to Wien in 1842. In a cellar in the Josefstadt district he made his first experiments with Lower Austrian wines. In 1843 he acquired his first vineyards such as the still existing Riede Goldeck in Bad Vöslau in the Thermenregion. There he was the first in the heartland of Austria to plant the varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot for red wines aged in barriques.
Robert Aldwin Schlumberger began producing sparkling wine with bottle fermentation according to the méthode champenoise, which at that time was still allowed to be called Champagne outside of France, which is now protected as an origin. As learned in France, this white wine was pressed from the red Blauer Portugieser variety using the Blanc de noirs method. Schlumberger's "Vöslauer white sparkling wine" was presented for the first time on 17 June 1846. It was a phenomenal success and from 1850 was exported to many European countries, as well as to India, Australia and North America. Schlumberger products were also carried on the round-the-world voyage of the Austrian ship "Novara" from 1857 to 1859.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, there was not a top hotel or luxury passenger ship in the world that did not carry sparkling wine and wine from the house of Schlumberger. The products were considered equal to the great French ones. The name "Vöslauer Goldeck" is the oldest protected wine brand in Austria. In 1878 Schlumberger was awarded the title Edler von Goldeck for his services. His heirs continued to run the winery. The turmoil of the Second World War was survived reasonably well. In 1973, the traditional company became part of the Underberg family business and a public limited company with headquarters in Bad Vöslau and in Wien Heiligenstadt. In October 2009, 100% of the shares in Hochriegl Wein- und Sektkellerei GmbH, including the production machinery and all brands, were taken over by the sparkling wine competitor Kattus. In mid-2014, Underberg sold the share package to the entrepreneur Frederik Paulsen.
A wide range of sparkling wines are produced using the champagne method. This is done under the name "Schlumberger" in white and rosé(Welschriesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir) and under "Goldeck" as a pure Grüner Veltliner sparkling wine. The basic wines for the sparkling wine production from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Welschriesling, Pinot Blanc and Grüner Veltliner are sourced from around 400 Austrian partner winegrowers, and grapes are also purchased. With the cellar point at the bottom of the bottle, Schlumberger guarantees traditional production with a manual remuage (shaking by hand).
From Bad Vöslau, the red wine "Schlumberger Privatkeller" (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon) is available exclusively for the gastronomy. The red wine "Privatkeller" (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc) is produced exclusively for the catering trade from the grapes of the in-house vineyard in Bad Vöslau with around ten hectares of vineyards. This winery is a member of the Tu Felix Austria winegrowers' association. The basic wines for the "Hochriegl" brand come from the Weinviertel region, mainly around Poysdorf, as well as from Burgenland (district of Andau). The annual production is around 5.5 million bottles.
The two wineries Domaines Schlumberger in Guebwiller in the French Alsace and Privatweingut Hartmut Schlumberger in Sulzburg-Laufen in the German growing region of Baden have the same family origins
Company headquarters: By Peter Gugerell - Own work, Public domain, Link
Goldeck sparkling wine: By Gryffindor - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Remuage: Schlumberger
