BIO Weingut Alexander Zöller

This is how it all started: I studied agriculture at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) in Vienna! A great time, just doing it on the side. Then my grandmother told me someone was selling a vineyard on the Wachtberg. Amazing! My hard-earned savings went into the ground, a whole 16 ares of Grüner Veltliner. My first own wine. Incredible, that was in 2006. It was so much fun. I wanted more, but farms don't have successors, and I wanted to do something – there had to be a way!

And then things moved quickly. I took out a loan and bought another 1.5 hectares. I found a farm. Somewhere in the Kremstal valley. It was Stratzing. That's where I was to start in 2007. A leased farm, a wine press, an old vaulted cellar, and a few more vineyards. A total of 3.2 hectares of vineyards, scattered throughout the Kremstal valley, from Wachtberg to Senftenberg—fantastic! So, off I went… organic, first year of conversion. In 2010, I found a farm, a former mixed agriculture with pigs, that had been uninhabited and uncultivated for eight years, and the heirs wanted to sell! Perfect, finally space and no landlords who always looked a bit suspiciously at the organic enthusiast. So I went to the bank, and something came of it. I moved to Dross, built a cellar, installed new tanks, a fermentation control system, no more stairs, a pneumatic press, and added a few more vineyards every year, experimenting a lot in the cellar and, above all, taking my time. 

What does organic mean now? For me, it means treating nature with respect, sustainably, for future generations! That pretty much says it all, but here's a little more detail for you! In the vineyard landscape, much more grows than just the grapevine! It involves working with the soil, diverse cover crops with legumes (nitrogen fixers), mechanical cultivation under the vines to optimize direct competition with the grapevine, plant protection with traditional and natural methods, sulfur, copper, plant extracts, and, of course, completely avoiding chemically synthesized pesticides and fertilizers. Is it more work? Absolutely! Does it work 100% of the time? No! But you live more closely with nature and the weather conditions, and it works well. Every year teaches the winemaker something new and demands a little more humility! For me, it's simply more fun, and I can work in the vineyard with my children without feeling guilty! Sometimes we even bring something home for the salad.