Umathum winery

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The signet of the Umathum winery with the Frauenkirchen basilica

The winery Umathum is a bio-dynamic economy forming Austrian winery in Frauenkirchen in Burgenland , the wine region Neusiedlersee is.

history

The Umathum family comes from Franconia and settled in the times of Maria Theresa near the Neusiedler See . Even then, viticulture played an important role in the family.

The company was founded in 1958 by Elisabeth and Johann Umathum as a mixed farm . The focus of production at that time was on sugar beet and grain cultivation, the agricultural area covered four hectares . The following year, the first vineyard was planted on 1.3 hectares . In the course of increasing specialization in viticulture, the area under vines was gradually expanded. In 1985 Josef Umathum (born December 24, 1960) took over management of the company. In 1987 the company specialized entirely in viticulture. Umathum switched its business to organic viticulture in 2006 and is guided by Demeter's labor-intensive guidelines .

In 1990 the Austrian magazine Falstaff named Josef Umathum “Winegrower of the Year”. In the past decades, the - meanwhile multiple award-winning - company has built an excellent international reputation and is one of the best wineries in Austria . His customers include the Austrian Federal Chancellery for its state banquets, prominent Austrians abroad such as Wolfgang Puck and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the kitchen of the ocean-going passenger ship Queen Elizabeth 2 .

Josef Umathum is married to his wife Ariane and they have two children.

The winery

The vineyard area covers 45 hectares (as of 2017). The proportion of total production is 75 percent for red wines, 14 percent for dry white wines and around 1 percent for sweet wines (as of 2017). Some of the sites are among the best vineyards in Burgenland, such as the Frauenkirchner sites Hallebühl , Vom Stein and Haideboden , as well as the Joiser sites Hackelsberg and Jungsberg . Umathum divides the Joiser properties into the two sections Unter den Terrassen and Kirschgarten - due to the different soil conditions . The Joiser vineyard was first mentioned in 1214 and has one of the oldest designations of origin in the world thanks to an appellation given in 1524 . The Joiser Kirschgarten was rebuilt in 2001 and is the only terrace location in Burgenland.

The premium wines include the Blaufränkisch Kirschgarten, the Hallebühl (a single varietal Zweigelt ) and the St. Laurent vom Stein. Umathum's Cuvée Haideboden is one of the most famous Austrian red wines. In addition, Umathum always has high-quality predicate wines in its range.

In 2010 Umathum introduced its linden leaf (Hungarian Hárslevelû ) to the range. With this white wine he would like to tie in with the old local traditions of viticulture in the area around Lake Neusiedl. David Schildknecht, the Austrian representative of the US wine critic Robert M. Parker , attests to an outstanding level of Umathums Traminer . The Traminer was once widespread in the area around Lake Neusiedl and is now, like the linden-leaved, a rarity.

Umathum harvests a maximum of 3000 kg of grapes per hectare, which corresponds to a third of the legally permitted amount. After a heavy rain he cooks a brew of chamomile and nettle to spray his vines against fungal attack. The Umathum winery does not sell its high-quality single-site wines until they have been stored for more than three years.

Zantho

The signet of Zantho with the Pannonian forest lizard

In 2002, Josef Umathum founded together with Wolfgang Peck in Winzerkeller Andau the project Zantho . The aim of this project is the production of high quality wines in larger units, which are primarily produced for export . The vineyards of Zantho cover around 70 hectares (as of 2012).

The name Zantho comes from the settlement of Zantho, first mentioned in a document in 1488, which was renamed Annthau in 1546 - today's Andau. This old Magyar term stands for “arable land” or “barren, stony ground”.

Initiatives

In 2001, Josef Umathum provided the vegetable farmer, goose breeder and later "Paradeiser Pope" Erich Stekovics from Frauenkirchen with a dedicated online auction of 97 bottles of Ried Hallebühl , born in 1997, a wine from its best location, with a substantial contribution of 12,600 euros Establishing a business. A year earlier he had already supported the career changer Uwe Schiefer from the Schiefer winery in setting up his business with a similar campaign.

Umathum initiated the event series “Rethinking regionality” in order to counter an alternative to the globalization of nutrition with “high-quality food” from its region .

In 2016 Josef Umathum founded the citizens' initiative Free Sight on Frauenkirchen against the settlement of a 140,000 m² (14 ha) tomato factory with greenhouses in the world natural heritage area. His opponents, the mayor of Frauenkirchen and SPÖ member Josef Ziniel and the governor and Ziniel's predecessor Hans Niessl, supported the project with the job and tax argument, while Umathum, on the other hand, the choice of location, the extent, environmental protection and a lack of prior information from the town hall led into the field. Despite strong resistance, the citizens' initiative managed to collect the necessary number of votes for a referendum to rededicate the location. As a result, Umathum was confronted with an ultimatum from Niessl's authorities to tear down allegedly illegal "extensions" on his property.

Memberships

literature

  • Rudolf Lantschbauer , Gernot Langes-Swarovski , Rainer Loacker, Josef Umathum: Organic wines benefit humans. Handbook for bio-organic and biodynamic viticulture. Illustrations by Yulan Cai. Vinothek Verlag, Graz 2015, ISBN 978-3-900582-45-6 .
  • Stephan Reinhardt: Burgenland. The red wine wonderland is growing up. In: Stuart Pigott , Andreas Durst, Ursula Heinzelmann , Chandra Kurt , Manfred Lüer, Stephan Reinhardt: Wine speaks German. Wines, winemakers, wine landscapes . Scherz Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-502-19000-4 , pp. 602-604.
  • Umathum winery, Frauenkirchen. Martin Promintzer, 2002-03. In: Christian Seiler, Kerstin Gust (eds.), WeinArchitektur - From cellar to cult. Preface by Dietmar Steiner . [Exhibition volume on WeinArchitektur. Vom Keller zum Kult , Architekturzentrum Wien , September 22, 2005 - February 6, 2006], (German and English), Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern-Ruit 2005, ISBN 978-3-7757-1687-1 , p. 82– 85.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e The history of the development of the Umathum wine-growing business. In: Umathum winery .
  2. ↑ The name Umathum. In: Umathum winery .
  3. ↑ a b Umathum Josef. In: Club Carriere - Encyclopedia of Success 1999 , Algoprint, ISBN 3-9521669-2-8 , p. 937 f.
  4. ↑ Acknowledgments. In: Umathum winery
  5. ↑ Wolfgang Weisgram: "Then you should also be happy." In: Der Standard , November 4, 2013, interview with Josef and Ariane Umathum.
  6. ↑ Florian Wegenstein: The project manager from Tarrafal reports. In: Delta Cultura , May 2010, p. 2, (PDF; 230 kB).
  7. ^ Johann Werfring: The monarchy is alive! In: Wiener Zeitung , April 2, 2010, supplement “Wiener Journal”, pp. 44–45.
  8. ↑ David Schildknecht: 6 exciting questions about the future of Austrian wine (second part). In: Vinaria . Austria's magazine for wine culture, issue 6, 2011, p. 108.
  9. ↑ Jakob Strobel y Serra: The culinary Burgenland. Cold tea is only available for the vines. In: FAZ , May 17, 2014.
  10. ^ Umathum winery. In: Falstaff , 2014.
  11. ↑ What does Zantho mean? In: zantho.com .
  12. ↑ Andreas Aichinger: Everything tomato? In: Business People / stekovics.at , accessed on April 17, 2017, (PDF; 764 kB).
  13. ↑ Rethinking. New perspectives on the region. In: Umathum Winery , accessed on April 17, 2017.
  14. ↑ APA : Frauenkirchen. Protest against the mega glass house: signatures collected. In: BVZ , November 9, 2016.
  15. ↑ Andreas Wetz: The place that sits in the glass house. In: Die Presse , December 16, 2016.
  16. ↑ Wolfgang Weisgram: No tomato glass house, but official pedantry. In: Der Standard , March 29, 2017.
  17. ↑ Renowned wineries in Burgenland