Why it matters
The producer
Weingut Jurtschitsch is a family estate in Langenlois led by Alwin and Stefanie Jurtschitsch. Alwin has been managing director since 2009; Stefanie shares cellar-master work with Ewald Tiefenböck. Across 62 hectares, the estate moves from Grüner Veltliner and Riesling into sparkling and red wines, so the cellar has to handle very different raw materials rather than turn one grape into a single house style.
The present winery was founded in 1868, but its buildings hold older layers: the former reading yard dates to the 16th century and the cellar to the 14th. A terraced cellar and modern press house opened in 2000, bringing contemporary pressing into a much older estate setting. In 2016, the old cellar vaults were revitalised for maturing wines from leading Kamptal vineyards, linking the historic underground spaces to bottles made from the estate’s named sites.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Langenlois is the estate’s home, while the working vineyards include Zöbinger Heiligenstein, Loiserberg, Dechant, Schenkenbichl, Käferberg, Lamm and Tanzer. These Kamptal names matter most when they appear on a bottle: a wine labelled Ried Loiserberg Grüner Veltliner narrows its origin from the estate’s wider holding to fruit from one named vineyard. The result is a range that can move from grape-led Grüner Veltliner to bottles whose vineyard address is part of their character.
The documented site story is one of named vineyards rather than a catalogue of soil types. Jurtschitsch works Heiligenstein, Loiserberg, Dechant, Schenkenbichl, Käferberg, Lamm and Tanzer, and makes single-vineyard wines through separate fermentation. Keeping a vineyard’s fruit apart allows the label to carry more than a grape name: it keeps the individual site connected to the wine’s body, acidity and finish.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Organic farming became a central decision before Alwin and Stefanie took over, and the vineyards have been cultivated under organic-viticulture guidelines since 2009. That work begins in the parcels, then continues through separate fermentation for single-vineyard wines. The cellar divides its work by wine type: Grüner Veltliner and Riesling can retain their vineyard address, while red wines mature in new or used French Allier-oak barriques; some are later reassembled in large oak barrels. Oak therefore belongs to a distinct red-wine route, bringing wood, body and tannin into play without defining the white-wine range.
Wines to know
The range in view
Grüner Veltliner is the clearest thread through the range, with Riesling alongside it and vineyard names offering a more specific address. Ried Loiserberg Grüner Veltliner shows the single-site end of that structure: one grape, one named vineyard and dedicated élevage. Grüner Veltliner Urgestein sits elsewhere in the range, and its 2024 vintage included Steinriedel fruit normally intended for sparkling wine. Sparkling wines add mousse and freshness to the estate’s repertoire, while the reds take a separate path through barrique and larger oak, where tannin, oak and weight become more relevant than in the white wines.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Choose the 2023 Ried Loiserberg Grüner Veltliner. It puts the estate’s principal ideas in one bottle: Grüner Veltliner, a named Kamptal vineyard, separate wine-making for a site and a documented élevage. The structure should be read from the glass outward—fruit and acidity on the palate, then weight and finish—before comparing it with a broader Grüner Veltliner such as Urgestein. Loiserberg comes first because its label makes the connection between grape, vineyard and cellar handling unusually clear.