Austria · Wagram

Weingut Kolkman

A four-generation family estate in Fels am Wagram, best understood through its dry Zweigelt Rosé Fruchtspiel.

The producer

Weingut Kolkman in Fels am Wagram grew from a vineyard of under 1,500 square metres and four Chardonnay rows that Marianne brought as dowry in 1964. Four generations now live and work at the estate; Falstaff names Horst, Gerhard and Horst Jr. Kolkmann among its winegrowers. Falstaff’s 2026/27 profile reports 60 hectares under vine.

Rosé Fruchtspiel gives the clearest view of the cellar work. Zweigelt spends about two to four hours on its skins before pressing, then ferments and ages in stainless steel. The short skin contact brings a pale onion-skin colour and light tannin; stainless steel keeps red fruit, lively acidity, mineral notes and a dry, lingering finish in view.

Known for

Dry Zweigelt rosé shaped by brief skin contact and stainless-steel ageing.

Notable facts

The story

Four Rows Of Chardonnay

In 1964, Horst and Marianne began what became Weingut Kolkman with a jointly purchased vineyard of under 1,500 square metres. Marianne also brought four rows of Chardonnay that she had received as dowry. The holding was small enough for its dimensions to be remembered, and the Chardonnay rows were counted individually. Five years later, in 1969, Horst and Marianne committed themselves fully to winemaking and the family lived from viticulture. In 1994, Horst Sr. and Marianne Sr. transferred the estate to their sons Gerhard and Horst. The estate now has four generations living and working in Fels am Wagram, while those four Chardonnay rows remain part of its recorded beginning.

From the atlas

Weingut Kolkman

At A Glance

Weingut Kolkman is a four-generation family estate in Fels am Wagram, Lower Austria. Its present scale began with a vineyard of under 1,500 square metres and four rows of Chardonnay, then grew into an estate that Falstaff’s 2026/27 profile reports at 60 hectares. The clearest bottle to seek is Rosé Fruchtspiel: Zweigelt given two to four hours on its skins, then fermented and aged in stainless steel for pale colour, red fruit, lively acidity and a dry finish.

The Producer

Kolkman is rooted in Fels am Wagram, where four generations live and work at the estate. Falstaff names Horst, Gerhard and Horst Jr. Kolkmann as winegrowers; wein.plus lists Daniel Hofstetter as winemaker. That family continuity reaches the bottle most clearly through Rosé Fruchtspiel, whose short, measured contact with Zweigelt skins turns a red grape into a pale, dry rosé rather than a deeply coloured red wine.

The estate began in 1964 with a jointly purchased parcel of under 1,500 square metres and four Chardonnay rows Marianne brought as dowry. A wine estate of 60 hectares, as reported by Falstaff for 2026/27, is therefore not an abstract number: it is the larger vineyard base behind a family business that began with a small plot and a few vines.

Place

Fels am Wagram is Kolkman’s named home in Lower Austria, and the estate’s wines are grown and made there. The place supplies the practical setting for the rosé: Zweigelt is harvested from the family’s vineyards, then handled in the cellar to retain a pale onion-skin colour and a light, dry shape instead of becoming a red wine.

Fels am Wagram also holds the estate’s tasting facility, opened in 2012. Wine can be encountered where it is made, with the family’s long vineyard history set beside the current rosé’s fresh fruit, mineral notes and lingering finish.

Soil And Site

Falstaff describes Kolkman’s vineyards as loess sites in Fels am Wagram. Loess is the documented ground beneath part of the estate’s vineyard area; the wine evidence for Rosé Fruchtspiel remains more specific about cellar handling than individual parcels. Its mineral character belongs in the glass description, while the loess reference fixes the rosé to a physical vineyard setting rather than a generic Austrian origin.

The first Kolkman vineyard was under 1,500 square metres. That small site and the later 60-hectare figure mark a change in scale, while the bottle retains a close-grained production detail: two to four hours of skin contact before pressing.

Story

Horst and Marianne committed fully to winemaking in 1969, after which the family lived from viticulture. In 1994, Horst Sr. and Marianne Sr. transferred the estate to their sons Gerhard and Horst, moving vineyard work and cellar responsibility into the next generation. The result is a family estate with several named hands behind its wines, not a label detached from the people tending the vines.

After Gerhard died unexpectedly in 2004, his 27-year-old son Gerhard stepped into his position and managed the estate with his uncle Horst. The family later opened a purpose-built tasting facility in 2012. Alongside that growth, the official estate material describes a move toward organic viticulture, while Falstaff describes organic farming; the Rosé Fruchtspiel offers the most concrete view of how vineyard fruit is carried into a finished wine.

Vineyards And Cellar

The rosé begins with Zweigelt and approximately two to four hours of skin contact before pressing. That brief interval draws enough pigment for its onion-skin hue and enough phenolic material for light tannin, while avoiding the deeper colour and firmer grip expected from a red-wine fermentation on skins.

Fermentation and ageing in stainless steel keep oak outside the picture. The consequence is a rosé described through red fruit, mineral notes, acidity and moderate body: fruit stays exposed, the palate remains dry, and the finish carries on without barrel spice or woody weight.

Wines

Kolkman’s documented wine story runs from Chardonnay in the estate’s 1964 foundation to the current Zweigelt Rosé Fruchtspiel. Chardonnay belongs to the family’s beginning; the rosé is the named bottle with enough detail to show the estate’s contemporary work. Its short skin contact and stainless-steel élevage create a wine with pale colour, red-fruit aroma, lively acidity and light tannin.

Rosé Fruchtspiel is not built as a sweet, soft rosé. The supplied tasting descriptions point instead to dry fruit, mineral notes, moderate body and a lingering finish. Zweigelt supplies the red-fruit register and a small amount of grip; the cellar method keeps the wine bright and lightly framed.

In The Glass

Rosé Fruchtspiel opens pale onion-skin in colour, followed by red fruit and mineral notes. On the palate, the fruit is carried by lively acidity rather than sweetness, with light tannin from the brief period on Zweigelt skins. Its moderate body keeps the wine from feeling dilute, while stainless-steel ageing leaves no oak flavour between the fruit and finish.

The finish is dry and lingering. That sequence—red fruit, acidity, a little grip, then a clean close—explains why the wine reads as rosé with shape, not merely chilled berry flavour.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Kolkman Rosé Fruchtspiel. It is a Zweigelt rosé from Fels am Wagram, made with two to four hours of skin contact before pressing and then fermented and aged in stainless steel. The method is visible in the glass: pale onion-skin colour, red fruit, mineral notes, lively acidity, light tannin and moderate body.

This bottle brings together the estate’s vineyard work and its cellar choices in a single, accessible form. Its dry, lingering finish leaves the fruit clear, while the small tannic grip shows what the red grape contributes before the skins are removed.

Anecdote

In 1964, the beginning of Kolkman’s estate was unusually small: Horst and Marianne jointly bought a vineyard of under 1,500 square metres, and Marianne added four rows of Chardonnay received as her dowry. It was not yet the 60-hectare estate later reported by Falstaff, nor a family operation spread across four generations. Five years later, in 1969, Horst and Marianne committed themselves fully to winemaking and lived from viticulture. The four Chardonnay rows remained part of the original foundation, alongside the small jointly purchased vineyard from which the family estate began.

Final Word

Kolkman’s story starts with a tiny vineyard and four rows of Chardonnay, but Rosé Fruchtspiel is the bottle where its work becomes most tangible. Zweigelt, short skin contact and stainless steel produce a dry rosé with red fruit, acidity, light tannin and a finish that stays clean.

Sources

Open Weingut Kolkman in the interactive map →