The winery is located in the 19th district of Döbling in the Austrian capital Vienna. It is one of the best known and oldest in the city. The Mayer family has been resident in the former suburbs and now district parts of Grinzing and Heiligenstadt since 1683. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) lived in the romantic old ancestral home at Pfarrplatz 2 (Heiligenstadt district) in 1817. Here the artist worked on his 9th symphony. That is why the typical Viennese wine tavern was named after him as "Beethovenhaus". In the old press house there is a still functioning tree press (Torggel) from 1617. The former owner Ökonomie-Rat Ing. Franz Mayer (1928-2011) is considered an integration figure and doyen of Viennese wine. The business was sold in 2006 to the advertising expert Hans Schmid, who has also owned the Rotes Haus winery at the same address since 2001. The responsible team consists of Gerhard Lobner (managing director), Ing. Barbara Wimmer (cellar master), Dr. Dragos Pavelescu (oenologist) and Paul Kiefer (sales manager).
The vineyards cover a total of 61 hectares in the 17th Viennese district of Hernals in the Alsegg vineyard, as well as in the 19th Viennese district of Döbling in the Langteufel, Platte, Preußen and Weisleiten vineyards on the Nußberg, and in the cadastral district of Grinzing in the Schenkenberg and Reisenberg vineyards. The white wine varieties Riesling, Grüner Veltliner, Chardonnay, Gelber Muskateller, Neuburger, Traminer, Sauvignon Blanc, Rotgipfler and Zierfandler, and the red wine varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Zweigelt are cultivated. Some areas are planted as Gemischter Satz, from which a DAC wine Wiener Gemischter Satz Nußberg is pressed. As a member of the ÖPUL programme (Austrian Programme for Environmentally Sound Agriculture), the vineyards are cultivated in accordance with the KIP guidelines. Among other things, no artificial fertilisers are used. The entire production is carried out according to certified rules of Nachhaltig Austria.
Only physiologically ripe and healthy grapes are processed through selective manual harvesting in several rounds. After gentle pressing, the white wines are fruity matured in stainless steel tanks. Some of the red wines are matured in barrique barrels. The wines with the Nussberg site designation are aged for a long time on the fine lees to emphasise the minerality. The premium wines include Grüner Veltliner, Riesling Nußberg and Sauvignon Blanc Reisenberg. A speciality is a Viennese Gemischter Satz, which comes from grapes grown in Vienna's smallest vineyard at Schwarzenbergplatz in the Inner City. Traditionally, the Mayor of Vienna is present at the autumn grape harvest. This wine is auctioned off on the occasion of the humanitarian campaign "Light into Darkness". Bottle-fermented sparkling wines, grape juice and grape marc brandy are also produced. The winery is a member of the winegrowers' associations Traditionsweingüter Österreich and WienWein.
Pictures: Mayer am Pfarrplatz
