Everybody on board!
Why stay a lone warrior? There’s more to be gained by joining forces. Vinea Wachau is once again proving how true that is, with its sustainability project. New board members Christoph Donabaum, Hanna Hirtzberger and Georg Frischengruber tell us more.
Everybody on board. It’s time to take off. To meet the “rookies”: Christoph Donabaum, Georg Frischengruber and Hanna Hirtzberger became the new members of Vinea Wachau’s board in early 2024. They want to build bridges. Between past traditions and future prospects. Among the region’s winegrowers. Between the Danube’s north and south bank. So everyone on board the ferry connecting the two shores of the Wachau. From here the view takes in every direction. The many vineyard sites with their dry stone walls, running literally for miles – the region’s familiar face. “The idea behind Vinea is unique: we are an association that gets everybody on board. That means considering what’s good for the region as a whole and not only for a small group,” Hanna Hirtzberger explains.
Our label stands for Wachau – and only Wachau
Vinea Wachau members are committed to strict standards. Including the commitment to using only grapes from the Wachau that have been hand-picked. “Many of our guests can hardly believe how much manual labour goes into our wines,” Christoph Donabaum reports. The traditional Heuriger wine tavern is often where people first discover what drives winegrowing in the Wachau region: an extraordinary share of manual labour coupled with a healthy dose of persistence. Not every fad is worth following, and the Wachau prefers to stick to its style. “That’s how we’ve made Steinfeder, Federspiel and Smaragd known all over the world, names that stand for dry white wines that reflect their origin,” Georg Frischengruber explains.
The new board members see it as their mission to carry forward this basis of past success into the future. Sustainability plays a key role here. The Wachau is Austria’s first winegrowing region to jointly go through certification for the Sustainable Austria quality seal. Here too, everybody has gotten on board. As Hanna Hirtzberger sees it, “The Wachau meets sustainability standards – that’s now certified.” But, for her, hardly a reason to consider the project completed. “We are now just really taking off. Together, as Vinea Wachau, we can achieve so much more in the way of sustainability.” Everybody on board. How about a toast to that!
