Claus Preisinger

Having begun to make wine with his father purely for fun, surfer Claus Preisinger took an early interest in viticulture, but it was not before working with his nearby winemaker Hans Nitthaus that he knew wine was something he wanted to pursue on his own, which led him to his first vintage in 2000. He has since grown the spread across 64 parcels and 19 hectares, which is quite substantial, even for Burgenland.

Widely considered to be the first Austrian winemaker to play around combining Georgian Amphorae (Qvevri) and skin-contact wine production, Claus Preisinger is not one to shy aware from experimentation and keeps his cellar-intervention to the bare minimum with hardly any sulphur, if any, added to his wines before bottling.

Treating his land with a holistic approach, working in line with the lunar calendar and embracing the power of the cosmos, Claus Preisinger is a producer who is able to work in such ways on a larger scale - without it affecting the high quality of wine he produces.

With his wide range of plots, he has lots of grapes to choose from. The wine ‘Bonsai’ is one interesting plot of Blaufränkisch of his, which the vines are grown very small using a ‘Stockkultur’ technique, making them resemble small Bonsai trees. They are also planted very closely together, 9000 vines per hectare which mean the vines fight amongst each other for nutrients. In this Bonsai wine, Claus aims to reproduce something similar to Jura Poulsard, a strong influence on him, by making the Blaufränkisch as light as possible being still a red, but also having a subtle complexity to it too. He achieves this partially from a short 3 day maceration period, enabling very light tannins and juicy, soft structure for the Blaufränkisch grapes.

In regards to Claus’s ethos and philosophy to winemaking “My wines are a reflection of nature. I do not intervene artificially, neither in the vineyard nor in the cellar. Even if this could improve the result, I would rather be satisfied with what nature gives us than meddling and manipulating myself.” - Claus Preisinger

What is the best Claus Preisinger wine?

Very tough to answer this, but if you want value then Puszta Libre is one of the best value natural wines ever made. However, this is just the start of Claus Preisingers skills, and whilst a great value bottle - its worth trying his exceptional Pinot Noir, Bonsai, KalkUndKiesel Weiss and Bonsai to get a fuller expression of his range of styles.

What grapes does Claus Preisinger have?

Claus farms Pinot Noir, Blaufränkisch, Grüner Veltliner, Muscat Ottonel, Zweigelt, St. Laurent, Welschriesling, Pinot Blanc / Weissburgunder, Cabernet Franc & Syrah

Why can I not find Pusta Libre white in Europe?

This wine was a special wine made for the American market, and like the Pustza Libre Rosé was never released in Europe, only the USA.

What is the name of the collab bottle between Claus Preisinger and A.S.M?

ASM , Claus and MORE Natural Wine have collaborated on a bottle featuring Pinot Noir and Muscat Ottonel, and the wine is called Frenzy - also a track on the new album available via Chinese Man Records.

What natural winemakers are similar to Claus Preisinger?

Winemakers in the same region of Burgenland, who have some wines similar to Claus Preisinger include Judith Beck, Joiseph, Christian Tschida, Koppitsch and Franz Weninger. Of course.. not all wines taste the same but there are similarities, partially as there is a large concentration of natural winemakers in the Burgenland region using the same grapes.