The winery is located in the municipality of Mannersdorf an der March (Kirchengasse 64) on the border to Marchfeld in the Lower Austrian wine-growing region of Weinviertel, only 35 kilometres east of Wien. The traditional family has been cultivating wine since 1620. The family originated from Croatian winegrowers who were settled in eastern Austria during the Habsburg monarchy to protect the border from the Ottomans. Roland Minkowitsch (1920-1986), who also held the political offices of II National Council President and Bauernbund President, is considered a Lower Austrian winegrowing pioneer.
The traditional winery was taken over in 2014 by Martin Minkowitsch (nephew of Roland and son of Reinhold Minkowitsch; sons of the winegrowing pioneer) and his wife Blandine, who comes from Burgundy in France. He studied agricultural economics at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences as well as business administration at the University of Economics Wien and the University of Nottingham, and most recently worked as a management consultant.
The vineyards cover 12.5 hectares of vineyards in the Lange Lissen, Kurze Lissen and Rochusberg vineyards. They are planted exclusively with white wine varieties; the main varieties are Riesling and Grüner Veltliner, followed by Welschriesling, Chardonnay, Gelber Muskateller and Gewürztraminer. A special feature is an 8.4-metre-long oak tree press (Torggel) that has been in operation since 1820 and is used to process the entire production. The grapes, which are in principle hand-picked, are gently and slowly cold-pressed with this press, thus obtaining grape must that is extremely low in tannins, high in enzymes and rich in nutrients. After pressing, the press cake is returned to the vineyards as a natural fertiliser.
Temperature-controlled fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks. The Riesling is vinified under the name "de vite" in various stages of development. Grüner Veltliner is marketed either as Weinviertel DAC or with the name "rochus". Chardonnay is matured in large oak barrels or in small quantities in barriques. Bottle-fermented vintner' s sparkling wine is also produced from Riesling. The wines stored in the vinotheque date back to the 1950s. The winery is a member of Premium Wine Estates Weinviertel.
