Living Soils, Living Vessels, Living Wines

Gernot Heinrich started his own winery in 1990 with just one hectare next to his parents' winery in Gols, a village on the northeastern end of Lake Neusiedl in Burgenland. [^24^] He made a decisive choice early on: to focus on high-quality, age-worthy red wines rather than the simple table whites that dominated the region at the time. [^20^] He planted 90% of his vineyards with red grapes — primarily Blaufränkisch, Zweigelt, and St. Laurent — and quickly achieved international success. But by the early 2000s, Gernot and his wife Heike felt something was missing. "Before 2006 we were sometimes missing this 'spirit or sense of place' in our wines and were searching for more individuality," Gernot recalls. [^24^]

The turning point came in 2006, when the Heinrichs converted the entire estate to biodynamic viticulture. [^24^] It was not a marketing decision but a philosophical one, born from tasting biodynamic wines and recognising the "spirit and vibrancy" they possessed. [^24^] They joined Demeter, the Pannobile group (a collective of Burgenland producers focused on terroir-driven reds), and became founding members of Respekt-BIODYN, a certifying body for biodynamic viticulture that has since become a benchmark in Austria. [^20^] [^25^] The transition transformed not just their farming but their entire worldview. "Following biodynamic principles means to work with all the natural forces, supporting natural cycles by using biodynamic preparations," Gernot explains. "The aim is to create a natural balance in which vines, people, plants and animals act in symbiosis and form the decisive elements of a whole." [^24^]

The same year, they discovered the Leithaberg — the Leitha Mountains on the western side of Lake Neusiedl, just 20 km from Gols but geologically a world apart. [^24^] Here, pure limestone and schist replace the sandy loam of Gols, and the cooler climate produces wines of striking minerality and vibrant acidity. [^20^] [^24^] This dual-terroir approach — warm Gols for power, cool Leithaberg for precision — has become the defining feature of the Heinrich portfolio. In recent years, they have planted new vineyards with Furmint, Weissburgunder, Savagnin, and Welschriesling on schist soils, varieties they believe are fit for the challenges of climate change. [^24^] They have also built nesting boxes for birds, stone heaps for insects, and planted trees and hedges — because, as Gernot says, "species extinction might be the even bigger challenge than climate change." [^24^]

Heinrich's cellar philosophy is radical in its simplicity: let the grapes speak, intervene only when necessary, and use vessels that honour the living nature of the wine. [^21^] All wines are fermented spontaneously with indigenous yeasts — a non-negotiable practice that allows the microbial fingerprint of each vineyard to shape the wine's character. [^20^] [^24^] White wines often see extended skin contact — maceration periods ranging from a few hours to several weeks — creating the amber-hued, tannic, and deeply aromatic wines that have made Heinrich famous in natural wine circles. [^20^] [^25^] Reds, conversely, undergo lighter macerations than convention might dictate, preserving freshness and preventing over-extraction. [^20^]

The most striking feature of the Heinrich cellar is its extensive use of clay amphorae — large terracotta vessels that are progressively replacing small oak barrels. [^32^] Gernot sees amphorae as "the ideal mediator between terroir and wine" — allowing gentle micro-oxygenation without the overlay of wood aromas. [^32^] The "Freyheit" line — the estate's most uncompromising natural wines — is aged entirely in amphorae, often with no added sulfites at all. [^20^] [^25^] These wines are bottled without fining or filtration, and the extended lees ageing — sometimes 17 months or more — builds texture, complexity, and a distinctive savoury depth. [^20^] Gravity-flow technology in the modern cellar minimises pumping and preserves the integrity of the fruit. [^32^]

Sulfur additions vary but are always minimal — and frequently zero. [^20^] [^24^] This requires immaculate fruit, pristine cellar hygiene, and a winemaker willing to accept the risk of instability in exchange for absolute purity. The result, Gernot says, is "vibrant and vital wines that are puristic and strong in character as they reveal the essence of their specific places of origin — livelier wines with lower alcohol and increased freshness." [^24^] The common thread across every bottle: "vibrating, dancing, lingering, salty, pure, natural, precise, reductive, chalky, authentic with spirit and sense of place — and always with ability to age and improve in the bottle." [^24^]