The winery is located in the municipality of
Spitz on the Danube in the wine-growing region of
Wachau in Lower Austria. After theoretical training at the
Napa Valley College of Viticulture in California and the
Wädenswil School of Engineering in Switzerland, as well as practical experience in many wineries such as
Pine Ridge Winery in California, New Zealand, Tuscany and Germany, and 14 years of management (viticulture, enology, marketing) at
Schlossweingut Graf Hardegg in the Weinviertel, Peter Veyder-Malberg founded his own winery in 2008. His objective was to acquire exposed
terraces with mainly
old vines and to save them from
grubbing up or reactivate them.
The vineyards cover four hectares of vineyards in the Bruck, Buschenberg, Hochrain, Kreutles, Liebedich and Weitenberg vineyards. They are exclusively planted with the two white wine varieties
Grüner Veltliner and
Riesling. The majority of the vines are at least 20 to 60 years old (as of 2013). The vineyards are cultivated according to organic guidelines, relying on pure, very laborious manual work. The highest quality criterion is the processing of healthy grapes without
botrytis fungus. Due to the conviction that nothing can be improved in the cellar, we work without much technology in the cellar. The character of the vineyards should not be changed by the addition of
enzymes, pure culture yeasts,
fining and temperature control, etc. The vineyards are considered to be of the highest quality. The vineyard takes centre stage as a quality-determining factor.
In 2009, the "Brandstatt" project was launched. This steep, exactly south-facing site in Elsarn/Viessling at about 400m above sea level on pure mica slate soil has always been considered one of the best vineyards in the so-called "Spitzer Graben". It was cultivated manually until 2005, when it was cleared by the former owner, who also abandoned the old stone terraces to decay. The vineyard was bought by Peter Veyder-Malberg in 2009. He set himself the goal of saving and recultivating this piece of authentic Wachau. First, the fallow land was cleared of undergrowth and the dry stone walls were successively repaired. In spring 2010, Riesling was planted. One can already be very curious about this wine.