Gut Oggau
A Classic Tale
For Steph and Eduard, it was a classic tale of wine girl meets wine boy. Stephanie’s mother Eveline was big in the first wave of the Austrian natural wine movement, her sister Barbara also a sommelier, while Eduard’s dad made conventional wine in Styria.
Before love at first sight merged the destinies of these two star-crossed wine lovers, Steph was a bit of an all-rounder in (sometimes Michelin star) restaurants and Eduard made wine with his family. It didn’t take long for the lovebirds to decide that creating something together was the end game.
As luck would have it, they chose our noble (and humble) industry, steering hard into the natural side of things. Conventional wine was never on the cards, no siree, and with what they now produce at hand, we thank our lucky stars for that.
Sustainability Cheerleaders
Have a quick sip of whatever’s at hand and brace yourselves for Bertholdi’s firm handshake and Theodora’s prankster charm because when it comes to Gut Oggau, like it or not, to know the producers and understand their passion means getting acquainted with the whole brood.
During their first vintage, undeniable personality revealed itself from each unique parcel of fruit, birthing the idea of the family; three distinct generations of wine.
60-year-old vines produce wines of depth and finesse and represent the grandparental matriarch and patriarch. The middle generation are forthright and powerful, like those aunties and uncles you love to hate, while Theodora and Winifred are the youthful wines from youthful vines, playful and at times unpredictable.
Released and distributed in tiny quantities, we’re pretty stoked to be able to share these Austrian characters with our own wine family. It’s time you get acquainted.
There are a lot of great family stories in wine, yet few play into the family dynamic quite like Eduard Tscheppe and Stephanie Tscheppe-Eselböck’s Gut Oggau. Hold onto your hats and let’s teleport to Burgenland, Austria’s most eastern and castle-populated state.
The couple purchased a neglected 17th-century estate in 2007, owned by a 92 year old lady tired of tending to her land’s every whim. Left to run wild for two decades, the imaginations of Eduard and Stephanie would soon do the same.
Neighbouring the village of Oggau from which they drew their name (while “Gut” translates simply to domain), their 13 hectares is located near the shores of Lake Leusiedl. The sunny continental climate is prime for producing naturally fermented wines free from pesticides and chemicals, now also Demeter certified biodynamic. Sunny days, happy wines.
Sustainability cheerleaders at heart and proudly obsessed with the natural wine movement, they’re determined to let the characters of each row shine through. Even before those first days on their overgrown slice of Burgenland, their winemaking philosophy was to reveal the natural nuances of the land and vines in which they farm – both young and old – and there’s definitely plenty of both.
Blaufrankisch and Gruner Veltiner are among the native varieties they’ve inherited and champion today, while a variety of soils, orientations and vine ages mean plenty of secrets to be revealed, vintage by vintage.
After plenty of loving care in the vineyard, these wines are graciously permitted to express their temperaments and ever-evolving moods through a lo-fi approach in the winery, released adorned with the now iconic family faces – lines and all.