Austria · Wagram

Weingut Familie Bauer

Organic Wagram wines from Josef and Eva Maria Bauer, centred on Grüner Veltliner and Roter Veltliner from Großriedenthal’s loess, sand and gravel soils.

The producer

Weingut Familie Bauer works in Großriedenthal on Wagram’s upper ridge, where gravel, sand and plateau loess shape the vineyard setting. Josef Bauer is the winemaker, alongside Eva Maria Bauer, and the range centres on Grüner Veltliner and Roter Veltliner. Burgundy varieties are associated with calcareous loess, while Riesling and Roter Veltliner are placed on sandy, gravelly loess.

Start with Grüner Veltliner for fresh fruit, light spice, acidity and lees-derived texture. The 2025 Ried Goldberg adds herbs, apple, cardamom, yellow stone fruit and a mineral-driven finish. Roter Veltliner Ried Hinterberg takes a broader path: 11 months in large wooden barrel bring vanilla and cardamom around guava, melon, mango and candied orange zest, with medium body and spice at the finish.

Known for

Site-labelled Grüner Veltliner and Roter Veltliner from Großriedenthal, alongside Eiswein specialities.

Notable facts

The story

A vineyard decision from 1989

The Bauers date the start of their natural-farming programme to 1989. The terms they describe were practical and exact: no herbicides, no pesticides and no chemical fertilisers in the vineyards. This was a decision about how vines would be grown through the season, beginning with the ground beneath them rather than with a finished-bottle claim. The estate’s later work remained tied to that vineyard focus. It has also trialled Donauriesling and Donauveltliner, two PIWI varieties, in cultivation and during pressing, following the grapes from the vines into cellar work. Austria Bio Garantie participation is recorded from 2012, while biodynamic certification was described as still in progress.

From the atlas

Weingut Familie Bauer

At A Glance

The Producer

Weingut Familie Bauer works in Großriedenthal, a Wagram village in Lower Austria. Josef Bauer makes the wines with Eva Maria Bauer, and Grüner Veltliner and Roter Veltliner sit at the centre of the cellar. That focus matters because the range lets the same regional setting appear in several forms: a bright, practical Grüner in a litre bottle, site-labelled Wagram DAC wines, and sweet wines made from frozen grapes.

The estate is classified as organic and speaks of living, healthy soils in relation to nature and climate. In the glass, that concern meets a deliberately broad range rather than a single house style: Grüner can be fresh and lightly spicy, while Roter Veltliner can take on fuller fruit, spice and wood-derived notes.

Place

Großriedenthal lies on Wagram’s upper ridge. On a label, Wagram names the regional wine area, Großriedenthal narrows the origin to the village, and names such as Ried Goldberg or Ried Hinterberg identify individual vineyard sites. A 2025 Grüner Veltliner labelled Wagram DAC Großriedenthal Ried Goldberg therefore carries grape, region, village and site in one line.

That stepped geography gives the Bauer range useful contrast. The Niederösterreich Grüner Veltliner is built for immediate, fruit-led drinking, while Goldberg and Hinterberg draw attention to particular sites and longer cellar handling. The result is a way to move from a broad regional wine to a more particular expression without losing sight of the grape.

Soil And Site

Gravel, sand and substantial plateau loess are defining soils around Großriedenthal. The Bauers associate Burgundy varieties with calcareous loess, while Riesling and Roter Veltliner belong with sandy, gravelly loess. Those pairings are not a generic soil lesson: they shape which grapes the estate places in particular ground and help explain why the white range does not rely on Grüner Veltliner alone.

Fossil-rich loess is documented for the vineyards behind Grüner Veltliner “Terrassen.” Hand-harvested fruit from those Großriedenthal parcels is sorted before fermentation, so the wine begins with a site-based selection before lees ageing adds texture.

Story

The family dates its natural-farming programme to 1989. Its stated rules excluded herbicides, pesticides and chemical fertilisers, placing soil work at the start of the wine rather than treating it as a label claim. The estate later participated in Austria Bio Garantie from 2012; biodynamic certification was described as still in progress.

The Bauers have also trialled Donauriesling and Donauveltliner, two PIWI varieties, in both the vineyard and pressing work. The experiment reaches beyond planting disease-resistant vines: it also tests what those grapes do once crushed and fermented, alongside the established Veltliner wines.

Vineyards And Cellar

For the 1-litre Niederösterreich Grüner Veltliner, fruit comes from vines aged 10 to 40 years. Ambient yeasts ferment the wine in stainless steel, then lees contact follows before release. Stainless steel keeps the fruit and light spice in view; lees ageing adds a little texture without turning the wine toward oak.

“Terrassen” follows a more layered route: hand harvest, vineyard sorting, spontaneous fermentation and extended ageing on lees without stirring. The named-site Roter Veltliner from Hinterberg takes another path, spending 11 months in large wooden barrel. That wood regime is reflected in the wine’s vanilla and cardamom notes, while the palate retains ripe fruit and spice.

Wines

The range begins with the 1-litre Grüner Veltliner, a fresh, clean, lightly spicy and fruit-led white. It is the uncomplicated end of the portfolio, but its stainless-steel fermentation and lees ageing still give it a defined texture rather than simple fruit sweetness.

From there, Grüner Veltliner moves through Wagram wines such as “Terrassen” and into named sites, including the 2025 Ried Goldberg. Roter Veltliner provides a different white-wine register at Ried Hinterberg: the 2024 bottling combines vanilla, guava, melon and candied orange zest with medium body, ripe mango and a spicy finish.

Beyond Veltliner, the cellar includes rosé from Blauer Zweigelt, reds involving Spätburgunder, Zweigelt, Merlot and Blauburger, plus natural wines, Sekt and spirits. The official estate range also highlights Blauer Burgunder Eiswein and Grüner Veltliner Eiswein, while Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese add concentrated sweet-wine territory.

In The Glass

Goldberg Grüner Veltliner opens with delicate herbs, apple, cardamom and a subtle tropical note. Yellow stone fruit fills out the palate, while its mineral drive and lingering, extract-rich finish give the wine shape beyond the first aromatic lift. It reads as a dry white whose depth comes from site fruit and concentration rather than obvious oak.

Hinterberg Roter Veltliner is broader and more exotic in aroma: vanilla, cardamom, guava, candied orange zest and melon lead into mango on a medium-bodied palate. With 4 grams per litre of residual sugar and a 14% alcohol level, its fruity sweetness and weight are balanced by spice at the finish; the large wooden barrel is part of that warmer, rounder profile.

A Bottle To Understand It

Choose the 2025 Grüner Veltliner Wagram DAC Großriedenthal Ried Goldberg. It is Grüner Veltliner from Wagram, narrowed to Großriedenthal and then to the Goldberg site, so the label makes the estate’s place-based structure easy to follow. In the glass it brings herbs, apple, cardamom, subtle tropical fruit and yellow stone fruit, then a mineral-driven palate with a long, extract-rich finish. It comes before the richer Roter Veltliner because it shows the house’s leading grape in a specifically named Wagram site.

Anecdote

The Bauers date the beginning of their natural-farming programme to 1989. The decision was stated in practical terms: the vineyards would exclude herbicides, pesticides and chemical fertilisers. The work did not stop at those three exclusions. The estate later participated in Austria Bio Garantie from 2012, while biodynamic certification was described as still in progress. Alongside its established Veltliner plantings, the family also tested Donauriesling and Donauveltliner, PIWI varieties, through cultivation and pressing. The trials therefore followed the grapes from the vineyard into the cellar rather than ending with a planting decision.

Final Word

Bauer is most revealing through white wines that name their origin clearly: Grüner Veltliner for herbal fruit, acidity and mineral length; Roter Veltliner for fuller body, ripe fruit and spice. Großriedenthal’s ridge soils remain present in the background, while the labels provide a practical route from regional wine to individual site.

Sources

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