Ernst Triebaumer

The late 17th century, is back on the track: What has always been a mixed agriculture until 1980 has become a mixed agriculture again in 2010. "Over several generations, our family has built up a foundation of knowledge and sensitivity to farming. The commitment to slowness is a very important part of this professional attitude“, the family communicates on their website. With the free-range vegetables, free-range pigs and delicatessen products the Triebaumers feel they have come "a step closer to the image of an archetypal farm economy“. The basis of all efforts is to practice "humus-producing" instead of "humus-consuming" agriculture. According to the Triebaumers, a society that is still fit for the grandchildren will only be able to develop in the knowledge of the finiteness of vital resources and the dependence of life on solar energy. For a quarter of a century, the Triebaumers have therefore been consistently pursuing their path of ecologization, step by step. It began with the greening of the vineyards over as much of the surface as possible, which set in motion a humus-building, life-affirming cycle that increased the vines' own defenses. The goal was, and still is, to "get as close as possible to the natural habitat of the vine" and to "produce grapes from species-appropriate husbandry and with the full potential of the site". You could call it the striving for terroir wines, but terroir is not a concept of peasant culture, yet programmatic phrases like this one are: "We treat our vines like indigenous people to whom we give back their habitat and their self-determination.“ Wine is not just a product to sell with intellectual ideas but gives moment of pleasures just like the landscape does, the bees do and the co-working of 3 generations and the workers which are treated like family members here. After the realization of full greening which includes the passionate cultivation of bees and planting of hedges, trees and orchards in order to break up, structure and beautify the monotonous vineyard landscapes and to make an immeasurable contribution to the preservation of biodiversity, which is dramatically threatened like never since the extinction of the dinosaurs, the Triebaumer family has taken the next step by keeping sheep in the vineyards all year round. "In this way we come into an uplifting cycle that perfectly exploits the natural synergies between animal and plant“, explains Herbert, the philosopher of the family. The sheep do the mowing, trunk cleaning, fertilizing and even thinning of the leaf wall. "With good pasture management, the humus content of the soil can be increased by one ton per hectare per year.“ As we know humus improves the regular and even growth through dry and wet periods of the year, stores water, increases infiltration, is both food and habitat for micro-animals, improves soil fertility and stores vast amounts of CO2. Last but not least, the family can provide for itself: through targeted polyculture, the Triebaumers do not only harvest authentic grapes but also three lambs per hectare each year, in addition to fruit, vegetables, honey and even medicine provided by bees. Not that unimportant if you think about the rampant mass production of meat worldwide… The fact that the entire company and the private households of the family have been supplied with energy for 10 years via a photovoltaic system and even the forklift and the car are operated electrically should not go unmentioned. Walking with Gerhard and Herbert through the colored and beautifully sounding Triebaumer vineyards is like walking through the Garden of Eden. Enjoying their wines out there is paradise, isn’t it?

"A good wine must always taste a little better than what it costs“, says Ernst Triebaumer, the charismatic doyen of the Austrian red wine miracle from Rust on Lake Neusiedl, Burgenland. His 1986 Blaufränkisch Ried Mariental is considered Austria's first great red wine and is, like "ET" himself, who, like his wife and general manager Margarethe, is in his 70s but still as active as ever before, still in great shape today. In the meantime, the family domain in the Arbeitergasse (literally: Workers’ Lane) is consistently farmed "grandchild-friendly", as the family calls it, i.e. sustainably and ecologically, by the sons Herbert and Gerhard with their families. Since the domain has become a mixed agriculture again in 2010 (after it had become a pure Weingut in 1980) also son Richard with his wife Beate are an integral part of the peasant family business, providing fresh and processed vegetables and Free-range pigs. Of course, the red Blaufränkisch is the most important grape variety in cultivation and delivers an impressive range of terroir wines. The predominantly chalky, sometimes crystalline soils, as well as the proximity to the warming lake, but not least the Triebaumers' holistic approach to farming, also produce excellent Muscat, Traminer, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and even Pinot Noir, as well as Ruster Ausbruch. This is, like the related Tokaji, an iconic noble sweet wine made from botrytis grapes: golden in color and based on different grape varieties such as Welschriesling, Furmint or Sauvignon Blanc. Triebaumer’s Ruster Ausbruch selections are among the finest sweet wines of planet wine and delicious not only with classic Austrian desserts but also with cheese. By the way, both the Triebaumer family and the Ruster Ausbruch are part of the Austrian wine culture since more than 300 years, though the Triebaumers have – and will – never become aristocrats. They are – and always will – remain humble but proud farmers. A well kept secret is the Urwerk series of skin-fermented, unfined and unfiltered bottled wines with no added sulfur.