Gut Oggau

Eduard & Stephanie Tscheppe purchased an old 17th century winery which had been abandoned with 20 years, which proved fortunate for them as the chemical residue & pesticide on the vines from the previous owners had washed away over the time of neglect, allowing them to start producing Gut Oggau wine using chemical-free & holistic farming practices from the get go.

As an added bonus for Gut Oggau, the abandoned winery even came with a 200 year old screw press, which they use for their more premium wines like Mechtild and Bertholdi.

With a focus on traditional regional varietals like Blaufränkisch, Grüner Veltliner and Zweigelt, Gut Oggau also utilise Hybrid grapes like Rösler which finds its place in the Brutal wine as well as Josephine. Eduard and Stephanie have a way in making this PiWi grape taste, somehow less like a Hybrid grape can - which can often have a slightly synthetic taste in its profile. The couple have now planted more hybrid vineyards as they see this as part of their future of wine with the changing climate.

In the cellar, Gut Oggau prefer to take a hands off approach. Making wine natural with native yeasts as expected with low intervention production, they do not use added sulphur in their wines but more interestingly, have a very hands off approach to even testing the wines in barrel. Eduard told us on one of our visits that once the wines are in barrel, they are not tried at all until Spring, in order to not disturb them.

Before entering the barrel aging cellar, a darkened, holistic room which ONLY contains the sacred Formula 500 preparate in wooden chests must be passed. For those unaware, Formula 500 is fresh cow manure that's packed into cow horns, buried into the ground at the beginning of fall. Six months later the cow horns are unburied, the organic matter is removed, dynamized with water and then sprayed on the soil during the winter and spring months.

So what do the Gut Oggau labels mean?

Experienced in making wine already (Eduard comes from a winemaking family in Steiermark), after tasting the first trial vintages of each wine they made and noticing how they had such different characters compared to each other, Gut Oggau decided to formulate labels to represent the personality & terroir of each wine they make - which they centered around the idea of a family of different generations.

These are represented in their now-iconic labels of line-drawn faces, with the names of each character being the title for their wines. It’s important to note, the faces and their age do not represent the actual vineyard age, but the personality the wine represents.

For example, Gut Oggau describe Winifred as "The daughter from Timotheus’s first marriage, which ended suddenly when his wife disappeared mysteriously over night. Just like her cousins, Winifred has a winning and open personality, is sociable, and of a cheerful disposition. Upon a first encounter she can appear to be somewhat shy and reticent, but those that make her acquaintance remember her as a unique, refreshing and charming young lady with an inquisitive mind."

The most popular Gut Oggau wines include Theodora, Winifred, Atanasius and Joschuari but the more premium offerings like Bertholdi and Mechthild are in hot demand due to their increased rarity and ability to age with complexity and grace. Personal favourites of ours include Emmeram, which is a bottling of Gewürztraminer as well as Joschuari - a vibrant and soulful Blaufränkisch.

The newest Gut Oggau family members include Cecilia, Eugenie and Edmond - all of which are much harder to find than the others.

If you have the chance to visit the Gut Oggau winery in Burgenland, you should definately stay for lunch at their wonderful courtyard restaurant during summer opening hours.

The absolutely delicious food is healthy and seasonal, plus all hyper-locally sourced. It really is a magical place to enjoy lunch in the courtyard, right where the winery is. Some sheep and rabbits live opposite the bathroom stalls and it feels a privilege to be essentially dining on the family property. Of course, Gut Oggau wines are on offer to enjoy, which is great as many sell out in shops straight away!

There is also the small boutique from Stephanie Tscheppe, of her homeware and ethical fashion brand ‘From My Heart, by Stephanie’ which includes Gut Oggau designer leather bags and exclusive Gut Oggau merch, made in collaboration with respected artists.

What are all the Gut Oggau wines?

The full range of wines in the family include: - Atanasius - Theodora - Joschuari - Josephine - Emmeram - Timotheus - Winifred - Edmond - Bertholdi - Mechtild - Wildtrude

There are also Maskerade wines (taken from young vineyards), Gut Oggau Rot, Gut Oggau Weiss and previously their Gut Oggau Brutal.

What grapes do Gut Oggau farm with?

Zweigelt, Grüner Veltliner, Welchriesling, Blaufrankish, Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), Rösler and Gewürtzraminer. More hybrid grapes will be showcased in the future.

Who runs Gut Oggau?

Gut Oggau is managed by partners Stephanie und Eduard Tscheppe-Eselböck.

What happened to the Gut Oggau Brutal wine?

Whilst a very popular wine, Stephanie und Eduard decided it was time to retire the Gut Oggau Brutal label, as the concept dragged on a bit with the Brutal name not with the same stance it did years ago. The grapes used for it, Rösler, are instead now used to increase the production of Josephine. Interestingly.... if you look close you may recognise the Brutal face has a very similar likeness to co-owner Stephanie.

How do Gut Oggau wines taste?

All the wines from Gut Oggau taste vibrant and alive, with virtually all using no added sulphur. White wines like Theodora taste fresh, whilst the more expensive wines like Mechthild have a distinctive Austrian complexity to them.