The place: South Styria from Ehrenhausen to Leutschach#
Styria is the green corner of Austria, the south-east, where the last hills before Slovenia are planted so steeply that the rows look drawn with a ruler on a rumpled cloth. It is the country’s third wine region by size, 5,109 hectares in three appellations, and the one that feels least like the Danube: farms, chapels, pumpkin fields and vines.
The heart is Südsteiermark, South Styria, about 2,800 hectares along the border. From Spielfeld and Ehrenhausen on the Mur the hills run west through Ratsch and Gamlitz to Leutschach and Glanz; to the north, Kitzeck im Sausal at 564 metres calls itself Austria’s highest wine village. The Südsteirische Weinstraße, opened in 1956, follows the ridges and in places the border itself, vines on both sides.
Vulkanland Steiermark, to the east, grows on old volcanic hills around Klöch, Straden and Kapfenstein; Weststeiermark, around Stainz, is very largely Schilcher. I sleep in the south and drive out to the others.
Terroir: Opok, sand and an Illyrian climate#
The word to learn is Opok: a calcareous silty marl, grey-green and crumbly when wet, splitting into slate-like plates when it dries. It underlies Leutschach, Glanz and the Schlossberg, and growers there treat it the way Burgundians treat limestone, as the author. Gamlitz sits on sand and gravel, rounder and more aromatic; the Sausal and Weststeiermark are on slate, Vulkanland on basalt and tuff. Vineyards lie between 300 and 600 metres, steep and in small parcels, so nearly everything is done by hand.
The climate is called Illyrian: warm, humid, Adriatic air meeting the Alps. It rains 900 to 1,000 millimetres a year, summer afternoons bring storms, and autumn swings between warm days and cold nights, which keeps acidity high while the aromatics build. Humidity also means starlings, hence the Klapotetz, a wooden wind rattle on a tall pole that by custom goes up on 25 July, St James’s day, and falls silent in November around St Martin’s. When the rattles start, the valley sounds like slow applause.
Grapes and styles: Sauvignon Blanc, Morillon, Welschriesling, Schilcher#
Styria is white country, and its signature is Sauvignon Blanc: not the grassy, gooseberry version of the New World but something cooler and stonier, nettle, white pepper, grapefruit pith, and on Opok a salty grip that lasts.
Morillon is what Styrians call Chardonnay. From Opok it is lean and chalky; from older casks on the Schlossberg it becomes layered, more Meursault than Mâcon. Welschriesling, unrelated to Riesling, is the everyday white in the Buschenschank jug; Gelber Muskateller, dry and floral, is the aperitif; Weißburgunder, Grauburgunder and, around Klöch, Traminer fill out the list.
The red exception is Blauer Wildbacher in Weststeiermark, which becomes Schilcher: a rosé from onion skin to ruby, with strawberry and a rasp of acidity that people love at once or never. It also makes Sekt and suits any Brettljause.
The three DACs#
Since the 2018 vintage the three DACs, Südsteiermark, Vulkanland Steiermark and Weststeiermark, each work in three tiers: Gebietswein from the region, Ortswein from a named village such as Gamlitz, Leutschach, Ehrenhausen or Kitzeck-Sausal, and Riedenwein from a single vineyard, a Ried.
Skins, amphorae and time#
The other Styria began around Leutschach from about 2005, when a handful of biodynamic farms started fermenting white grapes on their skins for weeks, ageing them two years in old casks and clay, and bottling with little or no added sulfur: amber, dry, tannic, saline wines that put this small valley on the natural wine map. If the idea is new, start with orange wine explained.
Producers to know#
Weingut Sepp Muster on the Schlossberg above Leutschach is where I explain the place. The farm is documented back to 1727; Sepp’s father bought it in 1978, Sepp and Maria took over in 2000, went biodynamic that year, Demeter in 2003, and made their first orange wines in 2005. Ten hectares of Opok, hand harvest, spontaneous ferments, large old casks and some amphorae, 20 to 24 months of ageing, no fining. The range is a ladder: Sauvignon and Morillon vom Opok, the Graf wines from older vines, Gräfin with three weeks on skins, and Erde, a year on skins in amphora, deep amber and tannic.
The Musters founded Schmecke das Leben, “taste life”, with four other farms. Werlitsch is Ewald Tscheppe in Glanz, biodynamic on Opok, whose Ex Vero I, II and III come from the bottom, middle and top of one slope: a tasting is a walk uphill in three glasses. Andreas Tscheppe, also in Glanz, works only with white grapes. Tauss, Roland and Alice at Schlossberg 80 in Leutschach, Demeter since 2006, keep guest rooms and taste by appointment. Strohmeier, Franz and Christine in St. Stefan ob Stainz, are the Weststeiermark member: Blauer Wildbacher, still and sparkling.
On the classic side, Tement at Zieregg near Ehrenhausen is the reference: Manfred Tement, now with his sons Armin and Stefan, made Ried Zieregg Sauvignon Blanc the wine by which Styrian Sauvignon is judged, taut, smoky, built for a decade. The estate is organic, Demeter-certified since 2022 and a respekt-BIODYN member, which is my point in every Styrian cellar: here the line between natural and classic runs through the cellar, not the vineyard, and both sides farm as I describe in biodynamics without mysticism.
What a day here looks like on tour#
We sleep in Gamlitz or Leutschach, and the day starts on the Weinstraße with the windows down, because in September you hear the Klapotetz before you see the vines. First stop is a classic cellar: Sauvignon Blanc from Gebietswein up to a Ried, steel against large wood.
Lunch is a Buschenschank. Under Joseph II’s decree of 1784 a grower may sell his own wine and cold food at home: a table under a walnut tree and a Brettljause of Verhackert, a minced-bacon spread, Presswurst, Käferbohnensalat of scarlet runner beans in Kürbiskernöl, the dark green pumpkin-seed oil that goes on everything here, rye bread, pickles. Welschriesling from the jug, and no hurry.
In the afternoon we climb the Schlossberg to a Schmecke das Leben cellar for two hours that start with a Morillon vom Opok and end with an amber amphora wine and a plate of cheese. In autumn there is Sturm, the still-fermenting must, with roast chestnuts at the roadside. Dinner is Backhendl, breaded chicken with potato salad in pumpkin-seed oil, and a Schilcher to cut it.
Styria is not on my scheduled Austria tour, which stays in the Wachau, the Kamptal and Burgenland; the drive south is too long for that week. I come here on private tours, two or three days from Graz, sometimes joined to Collio and the amphora cellars of Oslavia, about two and a half hours south-west.
Practical#
Graz is the base: the airport is 35 to 45 minutes from Gamlitz and Leutschach. From Vienna count 2 h 45 to 3 h by car, or about 2 h 35 by train to Graz. From Brno it is about 4 h 15 via Vienna and the A2, so Styria is a destination in its own right, not a day trip.
The best months are late May and June, and September and October: harvest, Klapotetz, Sturm, chestnuts, and the Buschenschänken at full stretch. Rainy days are normal, so bring a jacket and shoes that can take mud. Most Buschenschänken and farm-gate sales are cash only; the ATM is a Bankomat.
Tastings at the Schmecke das Leben farms are by appointment and the teams are small, so I book weeks ahead and keep the group to eight or fewer. The classic houses are easier to arrange but appreciate notice. Three days here on a private tour is how I would do it.
