1978
THE STARTING CAPITAL
0,75 ha
Roman and Heidi marry and take over their parents' farm with 0.75 hectares of vineyards, 23 hectares of grain, potatoes and sugar beet, seven bulls, 47 pigs and a small wine tavern in Stetten. They buy a house in the next town (Korneuburg) and open the ‘Laterndl Pfaffl’ wine tavern there in 1979.
1983
THE FIRST BOTTLING
Roman is convinced that we can produce first-class wines in our region and bottles 200 bottles of quality wine for the first time. His father thinks he's crazy and asks him how he wants to sell so much expensive wine? Both wines win gold at the Lower Austrian wine evaluation and are soon sold out.
1987
THE WHITE DIAMOND
Roman is working on a label for his wines. He wants it to be elegant, unmistakable and eye-catching and designs our white diamond with paper and pencil. He later had it revised and since then the white diamond has only ever adorned our wines with small changes.
1989
THE TERRACES
12 ha
In a spontaneous move, Roman buys seven hectares of the finest vineyards, all of which are overgrown and need to be replanted. At the time, Roman himself was cultivating five hectares of vineyards. He has not yet spoken to the bank about financing the purchase. Heidi is not yet in the loop either. And then there's the question: will we be able to sell so much wine?
1991
FIRST EXPORTS
Summer holidays in Carinthia are used to make contact with Carinthian restaurateurs. This is how our friendship with Valentin Latschen, who is known for his excellent schnapps, began. He recommends our wines to his school colleague Anton Viehhauser, who has made a name for himself as a wine merchant in Hamburg. As a result, our first delivery to a wine merchant becomes an export business.
2000
FULL SPEAD AHEAD
40 ha
The vineyards of Schloss Bockfliess are offered to us for cultivation. 10 hectares of the best sites. A rarity! We now have 30 hectares of our own land. Finally, the family makes the decision: We close the wine tavern and put all our energy into our winery. The whole family is involved, including Heidemarie and our sister Elisabeth, who later marries and now runs the Wannemacher wine tavern together with her husband.
2002
MAJOR REBUILD
We are realising our dream of a professional winery and expanding our cellar on a grand scale. We attach particular importance to the gentle processing of our wines. Air-conditioned rooms, temperature control for our tanks, washable walls and floors and short distances are important to us. The old farmhouse becomes a vinotheque, office and light-flooded tasting rooms.
2003
THE REGION
Roman is committed to a joint approach by the Weinviertel winegrowers, initiated the founding of the ‘Weinviertler’ in 1993 and was appointed Chairman of the Weinviertel Regional Wine Committee in 2002. Under his leadership, Austria's first appellation was introduced in 2003: Weinviertel DAC. In 2007, he was awarded the Silver Cross of Merit of the Republic of Austria for his voluntary work.
2004
THE NEW GENERATION
50 ha
Roman Josef is fresh out of viticulture school and his father immediately gives him full responsibility in the cellar. The junior introduces a new way of cultivating vineyards with double vine training, and his penchant for full-bodied red wines leads to a considerable boost in the red wine sector. At the same time, we start cultivating our Viennese vineyards and thus have Viennese wines in our programme for the first time.
2009
THE FINISHING TOUCH
66 ha
The new press with the ultra-modern inert gas system needs more space. That's why the press house is moved to a new room and the old one now houses red wine fermentation tanks. A new home is created for our barriques. Black chandeliers are now enthroned above our treasure. Two fountains ensure the optimum room climate in the barrique store.
2011
THE HANDOVER
75 ha
Roman's 60th birthday, Roman and Adelheid hand over the winery to their two children Roman Josef and Heidemarie. Both have been firmly anchored in the business for years and the family continues to work as before: old and young together, all pulling in the same direction and everyone has their own fixed place.
2016
THE AWARD
107 ha
Roman and Heidi fly to Miami to receive the Winestar Award ‘European Winery of the Year’ from Wine Enthusiast at a grand gala. ‘For your achievements in bringing Grüner Veltliner to the world.’
2017
THE BIG STEP
114 ha
Our bottling plant and bottle warehouse are reaching their limits. A small conversion is not possible due to the local conditions, we have to take a giant step. Over a 3-year construction period, we build another tank farm and double the size of the press house. In addition, a bottling hall with a fully automatic bottling plant including a warehouse and dispatch warehouse is built.
2020
OUR WAY OF PRUNING
137 ha
Despite the hot, dry summers, we want to preserve the freshness in our wines and have been experimenting with different pruning methods since 2010. In 2020, we are converting a large part of our vineyards to minimal pruning in order to get more shade for our grapes and smaller berries, which bring more flavour.
2021
THE INNOVATIONEN
151 ha
We are pursuing the goal of becoming energy self-sufficient and relying on the power of the sun Our roofs and façades will be equipped with photovoltaics. But the really exciting part is inside. Roman is having the very latest technology supplied from Italy for his cellar, setting new standards in the Austrian wine industry. His top priority is to process the wines with the utmost care.
2024
THE JUBILEE
158 ha
Just in time for his 40th birthday, Roman Josef brings in his 20th harvest. Countless gold medals for his wines have earned him the title of ‘Austria's Best Producer’ a total of 10 times over the years, we have been named ‘Austria's Winery of the Year’ 10 times, ‘European Winery of the Year’ once and even ‘International Winery of the Year’ once. Happy Birthday, Roman!