GUT OGGAU

On the western side of the Neusiedlersee in Burgenland, you’ll find the quaint town of Oggau. As we drove in from the north, the rolling hills funnelling down towards the lake were dotted with perfectly angled vineyards, tucked amongst the forests and wildlands. We arrived at Gut Oggau’s heuriger, a traditional Austrian eatery that serves cold food and local wine. We were immediately surrounded by friendly faces, guzzling glass after glass with vigour and cheer.

Stephanie and Eduard Tscheppe, the proprietors, are beautiful people – they radiate. After some quick hugs, we jumped in their truck and headed out to the vineyards. Nestled into hillsides, we find dozens of tiny plots spanning tens of kilometres from North to South along the lake. Despite their seemingly large quantity of holdings, they only amount to 10ha, which further proves how unique and minuscule each terroir is to their wines. In particular, we fell in love with the wild vineyards – vineyards that had been abandoned a decade ago and were now completely overrun by trees and grasses and bushes and animals. Despite the horrifically low yields in these vineyards, they continue to harvest the fruit, believing it adds a certain energy to the wines.

Over a late lunch, we learned about how they fell in love, got married, and did the impossible: they purchased a derelict farmhouse and its vineyard holdings and started making minimal intervention wines to support their family. They admitted it wasn’t easy, and there were years in which they weren’t sure if it would pan out, but they persevered. Their strength of character, love for one another, and belief in the vineyards pushed them through. Now, ten years later, they make some of the most sought-after wines in the world.