Austria · Kamptal

Weingut Birgit Eichinger

A Kamptal estate where Birgit and Gloria Eichinger turn Grüner Veltliner and Riesling from named sites into dry wines marked by orchard fruit, citrus, spice and fresh acidity.

The producer

Birgit Eichinger founded the estate in Straß im Straßertale in 1992 with 3.5 hectares of vines. Today, she and her daughter Gloria make wine from grapes processed in a cellar at the foot of Ried Gaisberg. Grüner Veltliner accounts for about 70% of production, so the range follows its shifts between sites: deep loess at Hasel brings rounded orchard fruit and delicate spice, while Wechselberg builds more yellow apple, stone fruit and dense texture.

Gaisberg carries both Grüner Veltliner and Riesling. The Grüner Veltliner shows citrus, white pepper and herbs, with fresh acidity and fine spice; the 2023 was aged in large wood, adding yellow fruit and breadth. Gaisberg Riesling takes a more citrus-led course: stainless-steel fermentation and four months on lees leave it dry, firm in acidity and fuller through the middle of the palate.

Known for

Named-vineyard Grüner Veltliner and Riesling from Kamptal, especially Hasel, Wechselberg and Gaisberg.

Notable facts

The story

The Gaisberg Riesling That Disappeared in Two Weeks

At the 2017 International Wine Challenge, Eichinger’s Gaisberg Riesling was named Champion White Wine and awarded 97/100 points. It also received the International Riesling Trophy, Austrian White Trophy and Kamptal Trophy. The wine came from Gaisberg, above the estate’s cellar, and its grapes were whole-bunch pressed before stainless-steel fermentation and four months on lees. Coverage of the result travelled quickly after the announcement. Within two weeks, the winery had sold out of the winning Gaisberg Riesling.

From the atlas

Weingut Birgit Eichinger

At A Glance

The Producer

Weingut Birgit Eichinger began in 1992, when Birgit Eichinger made her first wines from 3.5 hectares of family vines. The cellar now sits at the foot of Ried Gaisberg, where grapes from a reported 16 hectares are processed. Birgit and Gloria Eichinger make the wines together, with Grüner Veltliner providing the estate’s main line: its peppery, savoury character lets the individual vineyard names show clearly on the label.

Place

The estate is in Straß im Straßertale, in Lower Austria’s Kamptal. Its key sites include Gaisberg, Heiligenstein, Lamm and Grub, with Hasel, Wechselberg and Stangl close to the winery. Heiligenstein, Lamm and Gaisberg carry the Erste Lage 1ÖTW classification, a formal designation attached to named sites; when one of those names appears on a bottle, the wine is tied to that particular vineyard rather than presented as a broad regional blend.

Soil And Site

The estate describes its single-vineyard ground as a meeting point of complex soils, cool microclimates and reliable ripening conditions. Those differences emerge most plainly in Grüner Veltliner. Hasel’s deep loess supports a rounded palate with orchard fruit and bright acidity, while Wechselberg produces a fuller wine with stronger spice and mineral character. Gaisberg is divided into nine terraces of brown earth and crystalline rock, giving its wines a firmer, more layered frame. Lamm combines volcanic and loess material, while Heiligenstein has weathered volcanic soil.

Story

Eichinger’s growth has followed the vineyard names rather than a single blended house wine. From the 3.5-hectare beginning in 1992, the work expanded to grapes from 16 hectares, including sites with markedly different soils and exposures. That move changes the range in practical terms: Grüner Veltliner can run from Hasel’s rounded fruit to Wechselberg’s denser palate, while Gaisberg also supplies Riesling with citrus-led acidity and a longer, more structured finish.

Vineyards And Cellar

In the vineyards, canopy management, cover crops and soil- and vine-conscious work are part of the estate’s sustainability programme. Keeping cover between the rows and managing the canopy are practical ways to attend to the vine and soil, while the cooler site conditions help retain acidity as fruit ripens. In the cellar, the estate links gentle vinification with shorter transport distances, energy efficiency and water management.

The 2017 Gaisberg Riesling shows how a named parcel can be handled directly: the grapes were whole-bunch pressed, clarified by flotation, fermented in stainless steel and kept on lees for four months. Stainless steel preserves the citrus fruit and dry line of Riesling; lees ageing adds more body and texture without introducing overt oak. By contrast, the 2023 Gaisberg Grüner Veltliner spent time in a large wooden barrel, alongside its yellow apple, mango, apricot and blossom-honey notes.

Wines

Grüner Veltliner is the backbone of the range, and the named Ried bottlings make its site changes easy to follow. Ried Hasel Grüner Veltliner Kamptal DAC is dry and rounded, with orchard fruit, delicate spice and lively acidity. Its deep-loess origin shows in the wine’s broader mid-palate rather than weight alone.

Ried Wechselberg Grüner Veltliner moves toward yellow apple and stone fruit, with more pronounced spice, mineral character and a denser texture. The structure is more powerful and the finish longer, making it a bottle suited to a meal or a few years of bottle age. Ried Gaisberg 1ÖTW Grüner Veltliner brings citrus, white pepper and herbs, then fresh acidity and fine spice; the 2023 adds ripe yellow fruit and an oak-derived breadth from large wood.

Riesling has a smaller share of production but an important role at Gaisberg. The Gaisberg Riesling uses the grape’s citrus fruit and acidity in a more linear register, with stainless-steel élevage and lees contact supplying texture instead of barrel flavour. Chardonnay and Roter Veltliner widen the cellar’s work beyond the two central grapes.

In The Glass

Across the Grüner Veltliners, begin with fruit: orchard fruit at Hasel, yellow apple and stone fruit at Wechselberg, then citrus at Gaisberg. Spice follows in different forms—delicate at Hasel, more forceful at Wechselberg, white-pepper and herbal at Gaisberg. Acidity keeps each wine dry and active on the palate, but the texture changes with the site: rounded at Hasel, dense at Wechselberg, and more shaped by large wood in the 2023 Gaisberg.

Gaisberg Riesling shifts the emphasis from pepper and savoury spice toward citrus and a cleaner, steel-led profile. Four months on lees give the palate body, so the finish can carry acidity and mineral notes without feeling thin.

A Bottle To Understand It

Choose Ried Hasel Grüner Veltliner Kamptal DAC first. It is a single-vineyard Grüner from deep loess, and it sets out the estate’s core grape without the extra density of Wechselberg or the large-wood influence reported for the 2023 Gaisberg. Expect dry orchard fruit, delicate spice, vibrant acidity and a rounded texture. It makes the link between Kamptal vineyard ground and Eichinger’s Grüner Veltliner clear in one glass.

Anecdote

At the 2017 International Wine Challenge, Eichinger’s Gaisberg Riesling was named Champion White Wine and received 97/100 points. The same wine also took the International Riesling Trophy, Austrian White Trophy and Kamptal Trophy. The bottling came from Gaisberg, the terraced site above the cellar, and had been whole-bunch pressed, fermented in stainless steel and aged on lees for four months. News of the result travelled quickly enough that the winery sold out of the wine within two weeks of the announcement.

Final Word

Eichinger is most revealing through its Grüner Veltliner sites: loess brings Hasel’s rounded orchard fruit, Wechselberg adds denser spice, and Gaisberg turns toward citrus, herbs and white pepper. The Riesling from Gaisberg offers the same named-vineyard focus through a different grape and a steel-led cellar treatment.

Sources

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