Grower Website Schauer Region: Austria - Südsteiermark

On some of the highest and steepest winegrowing slopes in all of Central Europe, where winegrowing was documented as early as 1757, a pair of brothers continue their family tradition. Bernhard and Stefan Schauer have taken over the reins of their family’s winery and brought their own passion to this corner of Südsteiermark in southern Austria. Records in the village church document the early winemaking of the Schauer family. Once a farm of mixed agriculture, the crop is now grapevines. Grown on the top of hillsides, the vines thrive in the slate and schist-rich soil.

Since the beginning, there has always been a Schauer family winemaker overseeing viticulture and winemaking in Kitzeck-Sausal. Both the great-grandfather and grandfather of the present generation were farmers and made wine. In 1980, Karl Schauer completed the conversion of all farming to grapevines. In 2010, he passed primary responsibility for the estate to sons Stefan and Bernhard. The brothers are passionate winegrowers who always work together, in the vineyards, in the cellar, or in their parents’ Buschenschank (traditional Austrian wine tavern) and guesthouse. Stefan is the winemaker and runs the winery with Bernhard, who handles marketing and all administration. Stefan went to school for viticulture, then worked for wineries in Italy and the Wachau before returning home. Bernhard studied hospitality, then spent a year in Britain, another on a cruise ship, and then in the Austrian national tourism office. They have grown the winery quickly in the past several years: from 25 acres /10 hectares in 2010 to 70 acres/28 hectares in 2019.

It is above all the special soils of Sudsteiermark, and Sausal in particular, that define the essence of Schauer wines.

Exceptional altitude, steepness of the terrain, the Paleozoic slate formations of the Sausal in combination with cool nightly winds, give their wines, above all Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling, a very special character – a unique, salty-mineral note.

Organic farming principles are used to allow the vines to show the pure expression of their terroir. This organic evolution is steps forward into the future of Styrian viticulture while also being a step back into the past of these prized vineyards.

Bernard and Stefan create wines that do not show off with ostentatious opulence. These wines convey drinking pleasure with their vibrant interplay of acidity and aromas and seduce with their filigree, floating lightness, subtle elegance and depth.