Machherndl

Wösendorf an der Donau is located on the left bank of the Danube, and is an idyllic town with character in the Wachau. Here you will find narrow winding streets, a quaint, uneven church square as well as traditional old vintners’ cottages. When you arrive at our winery and stand before grand old wooden gate, you might expect a medieval courtyard, which is so typical for our region, to lie beyond it. Far from it! Instead, you will be welcomed by a modern, bright and spacious building constructedof glass and concrete right next to the old house. A contemporary home and winery in one. A pleasant place to pass the time.

The architecture of our winery is also reflected on our winemaking philosophy: to unite the tradition passed down through the generations with forward-thinking progress. We marry the wealth of experience & contemporary interpretation. Wooden vats & stainless steel tanks. The journey from traditional wine farming, then to conventional viticulture and now back to the roots with organic viticulture. 
“Bio is logical!” 

We look forward to being granted organic certification for all our wines, effective from the 2018 vintage.

BACHSATZ 

The Bachsatz lies on a plain of paragneiss and amphibolite. The vines here were clone-selected and the finished wines show more aromatic intensity than in our other sites.

HARZENLEITEN 

Paragneiss and amphibolite soils prevail here, with a topsoil of glacial loess. It is a young vineyard planted with Grüner Veltliner and Syrah in the year 2000. It produces wines with lean and cool characters.

HOCHRAIN 

Paragneiss and pockets of limestone (quite literally) set the tone here. Four vineyards, including the “Seelenkräutel” subsite, are dedicated to the Grüner Veltliner variety. Two vineyards date back to 1987 and 1973 respectively.

KOLLMITZ 

The Kollmitz vineyard consists of a bank of loess that runs halfway up the incline. Beyond this, solid bedrock from weathered soil (paragneiss) with little humus prevails. The varieties planted here on both the plateau and terraced rows include Grüner Veltliner, Riesling (planted 1973) and Weißburgunder (Pinot Blanc).

KOLLMÜTZ 

The Kollmütz is marked by its eastern parcels of loess and predominantly bedrock cliff-faced rocks towards the west. We have four sites within Kollmütz that are planted on bedrock terraces and on the high plateau. Some of our best Riesling, Grüner Veltliner and Chardonnay wines thrive here.

POSTOLERN 

The Postolern is our site located at the highest altitude. The soils are composed of paragneiss and amphibolithe. Our Frühroter Veltliner, Grüner Veltliner, Pinot Gris and Zweigelt vines thrive here at around 370 metres below the edge of the forest.

STEINWAND 

The Steinwand site is situated at the foot of the Kollmitz slope. The Grüner Veltliner, which grows here, was planted in 1969 and displays intense aromatic characters.

We hand-pick our grapes and bring them in a careful and healthy state for processing in the press. Our white grapes are not pressed immediately, which is common for most white wines, but are rather produced like a red wine with a skin maceration. The must rests with the skins and stems in ambient conditions until the desired intensity is achieved, and the must develops complex and more intense aromatic characters.

We press the grapes gently (max. 0.8 bar) and ferment the wine, depending on the desired style of wine, spontaneously and leave it on the skins and bottle without clarification. Alternatively, we ferment the wine with our own yeast selection and clarify. We generally do not fine our wines, and only add minimal sulphur prior to bottling. Some wines are bottled unfiltered.