Why it matters
The producer
Weingut Gross is a family estate at Nussberg in Austria’s Südsteiermark. Martina and Johannes Gross run it from a site surrounded by vines, woods and orchards; the Nussberg is both their working hill and the source of a leading Sauvignon Blanc. That close link between one hill, a grape and a label is central here: the vineyard name on the bottle is meant to carry through to the wine’s fruit, acidity and structure.
The modern Gross family winery began in 1907, when Heinrich Gross bought a vineyard at Witscheiner Herrenberg. Alois and Ulrike Gross later devoted themselves to quality winegrowing, then handed responsibility to their sons Johannes and Michael in 2006, when they were 21 and 19. Since 2019, Martina and Johannes have led the Nussberg estate. The thread through those changes is a move from family vineyards to wines named for individual places, with cellar time used to let those sites speak after harvest.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Südsteiermark sits in Austria’s southeast, where cool Alpine winds meet warmer Adriatic air. The resulting day-and-night shifts can reach 20°C, allowing grapes to ripen while holding aromatic lift and acidity. In Gross Sauvignon Blanc, that means tropical and yellow fruit can arrive with herbal notes, citrus and a dry, cooling line rather than a broad, sweet palate.
Nussberg, Perz and Sulz are steep enough that machines have only limited use; some slopes reach 85 percent. Handwork is therefore part of how the vineyards are farmed, from soil work to harvest. The estate’s sites include Opok, a calcareous marl, alongside limestone, sand, gravel and volcanic material. At Nussberg, Opok and volcanic tuff sit beneath the 2021 Sauvignon Blanc; at Sulz, Opok contributes a smoky, salty edge to the wine’s fruit.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Gross farms organically and received organic certification beginning with the 2024 vintage. The steep ground is worked largely by hand, while compost replaces synthetic fertiliser and herbicides, insecticides and botryticides are avoided. That work aims for sound fruit from each parcel before it reaches the press.
In the cellar, small vineyard parcels may be kept separate and assigned to 300-litre oak, large wooden casks or steel according to the wine. The 2021 Nussberg and Sulz Sauvignon Blancs were hand-picked, given 12–24 hours of skin contact, fermented spontaneously in large neutral oak, then held on lees before unfiltered bottling. Neutral wood and lees ageing bring texture and savoury breadth without turning the wines into oak-flavoured Sauvignon Blanc.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range moves from Südsteiermark regional wines to village wines from places such as Ehrenhausen and Gamlitz, then to Rieden wines from a defined vineyard. The regional wines are made for early drinking; village wines receive at least 18 months in cellar; the classified single-vineyard wines are held for four to five years. Gross’s Große and Erste STK Ried wines come from vines averaging at least 15 years old and are expected to develop in bottle for at least a decade.
Sauvignon Blanc is the clearest route into the site range. Ried Sulz Sauvignon Blanc Erste STK Ried 2021 is the more immediately open of the two, with guava, honeydew melon, peach, juniper and a rich body checked by acidity. Ried Nussberg Sauvignon Blanc Grosse STK Ried 2021 is more concentrated: grilled pimiento, cactus pear, physalis, grapefruit, fennel seed and juniper sit around firmer weight and a long dry finish. Weissburgunder, Welschriesling and Gelber Muskateller also belong to the estate’s regional white-wine repertoire.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Choose Ried Sulz Sauvignon Blanc Erste STK Ried 2021 first. It shows Gross’s long-release approach without demanding a decade of waiting: hand-picked Sauvignon Blanc, spontaneous fermentation in large neutral oak, lees ageing, then unfiltered bottling after 41 months. Guava, honeydew, ripe peach and juniper lead into a dry palate with a rich body, lively acidity, smoky Opok character and a long mandarin-and-lavender finish. It makes the estate’s method tangible: ripe fruit from Südsteiermark, then time to give that fruit texture and grip.