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Weingut Michel Gindl

A biodynamic Hohenruppersdorf farm where Grüner Veltliner moves from stainless steel into lees- and wood-aged forms.

The producer

Michael Gindl took over his father’s farm in Hohenruppersdorf, Lower Austria, in 2002 at seventeen. In 2010 he brought animals back and converted the farm fully to biodynamics. Horses, sheep, goats and Scottish Highland cattle are part of the vineyard system; cattle manure enriches the soil before the fruit reaches the cellar.

The range separates Flora, a changing white blend, from Grüner Veltliner cuvées built through different vessels. Buteo stays with stainless steel, while Buteo 12 is the riper foudre-aged counterpart; Buteo, Buteo 12 and SOL spend months on fine lees, with Buteo 12 and SOL also aged in barrels made from the estate’s own forest wood. Fermentation is spontaneous and the wines are unfiltered.

Known for

Biodynamic, spontaneously fermented wines shaped by animals in the vineyard, fine lees, steel and estate-grown wood.

Notable facts

The story

Animals Return To The Farm

In 2010, Michael Gindl brought animals back to the farm and converted it fully to biodynamics. Horses, sheep, goats and Scottish Highland cattle became part of the work around the vines, with cattle manure returned to the vineyard soil. The change came eight years after Gindl had taken over his father’s farm at seventeen. The animals were integrated into the cultivation of the vineyards from which Flora, Buteo, Buteo 12 and SOL are made, and horses also formed part of his effort to work among the vines without relying solely on tractors.

From the atlas

Weingut Michel Gindl

At A Glance

Weingut Michel Gindl is Michael Gindl’s farm in Hohenruppersdorf, in Austria’s Niederösterreich and associated with Weinviertel. Its bottles begin with biodynamically cultivated vines, spontaneous fermentation and unfiltered wine, then split into Flora, a changing white blend, and Grüner Veltliner cuvées shaped by stainless steel, foudre, fine lees and estate-grown barrel wood.

The Producer

Michael Gindl took over his father’s farm in 2002, when he was seventeen. The wines now carry Demeter status and come from organically treated vines; that farming commitment runs through Flora, Buteo, Buteo 12 and SOL rather than sitting apart from the cellar. The result is a range where the material of the farm—animals, lees, steel and wood—appears in the way each bottle is built.

Place

Hohenruppersdorf lies in Lower Austria, roughly an hour from Vienna, within the Weinviertel association. This is the address behind Gindl’s Grüner Veltliner and white blends: Buteo takes Grüner Veltliner through stainless steel, while Flora uses a changing group of white grapes. Place here is not a promise of one vineyard character; it is the working setting in which a farm produces wines through particular grapes and cellar vessels.

Soil And Site

Gindl does not present a geological story for these wines. The documented ground-level fact is farming: horses, sheep, goats and Scottish Highland cattle are part of the estate, and the cattle’s manure enriches vineyard soil. Since the vines are cultivated biodynamically, Buteo and Flora begin with a farm system that returns animal matter to the vineyard instead of treating soil care and wine production as separate tasks.

Story

The farm changed direction in stages. Gindl assumed responsibility for it in 2002; in 2010 he brought animals back and completed the conversion to biodynamics. That later decision connects directly to the wine in the cellar: vines are farmed biodynamically, fermentation is spontaneous, and the finished wines are minimally processed and unfiltered. Flora and the Grüner Veltliner wines therefore carry a consistent chain from cultivated vines to active fermentation rather than a conventionalised finish.

Vineyards And Cellar

Biodynamic cultivation supplies the fruit, while spontaneous fermentation lets each lot ferment without a selected commercial yeast. Gindl leaves the wines unfiltered, a choice that retains the wine’s material after fermentation rather than stripping it to a bright, uniform surface. In practical drinking terms, this sets up wines with texture and sediment potential as part of their natural presentation; a bottle may benefit from gentle handling rather than being treated as a perfectly clear commodity.

Buteo, Buteo 12 and SOL spend several months on fine lees, the spent yeast cells left with the wine after fermentation. Lees contact can add body and a more cushioned palate, which matters especially beside the stainless-steel Buteo. Buteo 12 and SOL also mature in barrels made from wood in Gindl’s own forest. The vessel changes the wine’s shape: Buteo 12 moves toward a riper, foudre-aged Grüner Veltliner, while the original Buteo keeps its stainless-steel line.

Wines

Flora is the most open-ended part of the range, a white wine whose grapes can change by vintage. Flora 2024 is a blend of Riesling, Gelber Muskateller and Scheurebe, three grapes that establish a citrus-and-floral register before the wine reaches the palate. Flora 2023 was fermented in stainless steel and underwent malolactic fermentation, so its fruit profile is framed by steel while the completed conversion can round the wine’s acidity and texture.

Buteo is the Grüner Veltliner to seek for the stainless-steel side of the cellar: a direct, fruit-led format without the foudre treatment documented for Buteo 12. Buteo 12 moves the same grape into a riper, wood-aged form, with fine lees and foudre adding more body and breadth. SOL also combines fine-lees maturation with barrels made from estate-grown wood, making it a further step into texture, oak influence and weight rather than another version of Flora’s aromatic blend.

In The Glass

Across the range, start with the split between aroma and structure. Flora 2024’s Riesling, Gelber Muskateller and Scheurebe bring citrus and floral possibilities to the nose; its white-grape blend places perfume ahead of the Grüner Veltliner bottles’ more structural comparison. Flora 2023’s stainless-steel fermentation keeps the fruit in view, while malolactic fermentation can bring a softer, rounder sensation across the palate. The finish should be read through the vintage and blend rather than assumed to be identical from one Flora release to the next.

Buteo and Buteo 12 offer the clearer study in texture. Stainless steel in Buteo points Grüner Veltliner toward a cleaner fruit profile and firmer acidic line, while the riper, foudre-aged Buteo 12 has more weight from its fuller build, fine lees and wood maturation. SOL extends the lees-and-barrel approach, where body, oak and savoury texture can carry the finish beyond the immediate fruit. Serve the unfiltered wines carefully if a bottle shows deposit.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Flora 2024, the organic white blend of Riesling, Gelber Muskateller and Scheurebe. It puts three named grapes into one bottle, so citrus fruit and floral aroma are the first sensory reference points, while its changing vintage composition keeps the wine tied to a particular release rather than a fixed recipe. Flora comes before Buteo because it introduces Gindl’s spontaneous, minimally processed approach without requiring a comparison between steel and wood-aged Grüner Veltliner.

Anecdote

In 2010, Michael Gindl brought animals back to the farm and converted it fully to biodynamics. Horses, sheep, goats and Scottish Highland cattle became part of the daily work around the vines; the cattle’s manure was returned to the vineyard soil. The move came eight years after Gindl had taken over his father’s farm as a seventeen-year-old. The animals were not kept as a decorative farmyard detail: their manure had a stated role in enriching the ground from which Flora, Buteo, Buteo 12 and SOL would be made. Horses also became part of Gindl’s effort to work the vineyards without relying solely on tractors.

Final Word

Michel Gindl’s bottles are easiest to approach as a farm and cellar sequence: animals and biodynamic vines first, spontaneous fermentation next, then a choice between Flora’s aromatic white blend and Grüner Veltliner shaped by steel, lees, foudre and estate-grown wood.

Sources

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