currently 170,726 Wines and 25,161 Producers, including 3,438 classified producers.
The Schloss Gobelsburg winery is located in the Lower Austrian wine-growing region of Kamptal. The history of the winery is closely linked to the Cistercian monastery of Zwettl, which was founded in 1138 by the Kuenringer Hadmar I (+1138). In 1171, the then owner of Gobelsburg Castle provided the Cistercian monks from Burgundy with a farm and vineyards. The monks only used organic fertilisers, did not use pesticides(herbicides) and practised a reduced use of pesticides.
After the monastery's vineyard holdings had expanded as far as the south of Vienna, a central point of contact was created for the monastery's wine activities. The castle was purchased by the monastery in 1740 and a central winery was built there. From 1958, Father Bertrand Baumann, later Abbot of Zwettl, managed the winery and turned the "Gobelsburger Messwein" into a well-known brand. Since 1996, the winery and castle have been run by Eva and Michael Moosbrugger with the involvement of winemaker Willi Bründlmayer.
The vineyards cover 75 hectares of vines in the Heiligenstein, Gaisberg, Grub, Lamm, Renner and Steinsetz vineyards with different soil and microclimate conditions. They are 75% planted with the white wine varieties Grüner Veltliner and Riesling and 25% with the red wine varieties Zweigelt, Pinot Noir, St. Laurent and Merlot. The best vineyards are cultivated according to sustainable principles and were certified by Nachhaltig Austria in 2015.
An innovative winemaking technique is called the "Dynamic Cellar Concept". To avoid pumping, the wines are transported in "barrels on wheels". Depending on the style, they are fermented in stainless steel or wooden barrels. Maturation takes place in large or small barrels made exclusively from oak from the nearby Manhartsberg. The "Tradition" line includes wines from Grüner Veltliner and Riesling with the ageing philosophy of the mid-19th century. For the first time in the 2001 vintage, an attempt was made to re-apply the old traditional practices.
The product range includes regional, local and single vineyard wines Kamptal DAC (Grüner Veltliner and Riesling), mass wine (Grüner Veltliner) and bottle-fermented sparkling wines. Around 200,000 bottles of wine are produced each year. The winery is a member of Traditionsweingüter Österreich, with Michael Moosbrugger acting as chairman since 2008.
Pictures: Gobelsburg Castle