History

When it comes to viticulture, one does not get too far by being impatient. The grapes will grow according to their own timetable, and not that of the man on the tractor. And the wine also matures in cask in as leisurely a fashion as it sees fit. In Dross, the saying that good things take time is taken particularly seriously: the quality and expertise of Weingut Buchegger evolved through a process of maturing that has now lasted well over a hundred years.

The story began way back in 1893, and the Buchegger family has devoted itself diligently to winegrowing ever since then. Of course, wine and the vine have a much longer tradition in Gedersdorf – first mentioned in an official document in 1190 – where most of the vineyards of the Buchegger estate are growing. At that time, the local monasteries owned vineyards and harvested the best grapes from parcels in the Holzgasse or Moosburgerin, which 800 years ago bore the same names as they do today.

Walter Buchegger also grew up in Gedersdorf. He learned how to vinify wine at an early age from his father Leopold, who had begun bottling wine he had produced himself in 1965. In 1994, Walter Buchegger took over his father’s enterprise and established his respectful, gentle way of vinification, working with grapes from some of the best vineyard sites in the Kremstal. Later, a vineyard in the Kamptal was added.

In 2006, Weingut Buchegger moved its cellar to Dross, and the first harvest was vinified here that year, while the eleven hectares of vineyards naturally remained rooted in Gedersdorf. Primarily, Grüner Veltliner and Riesling grow in these vineyards, but one also finds the varieties Roter Veltliner, Chardonnay and Zweigelt.

At the same time, new ideas flowed into the process. Since the clearing-out of the Merlot, Roter Veltliner grapes have been growing on the terraces of Ried Tiefenthal. Their maiden harvest took place in 2014, and this dry wine has been featured in the portfolio since 2015.

In 2010, Walter Buchegger also began to work intensively with sparkling wine and Sekt. His first base wine for Sekt was harvested in 2014. Walter’s legacy is the »Buchegger Sekt Grosse Reserve 2014«, a sparkling wine made from Chardonnay grapes with thirty-six months of aging on the yeast.

Since Walter Buchegger’s sudden death in June 2018, his life-partner Silke Mayr, who has been involved in all facets of the operation for years, has continued the business with her well-trained team, headed by cellarmaster Michael Nastl.

The Buchegger estate and the Vorspannhof Mayr have together formed a winery (Vorspannhof Dross), since 2020 offering two lines of wine – this means that customers can experience the unique variety of top Kremstal vineyards, the essence of the region, so to speak. The Buchegger wines retain their authentic profile: unaffectedly typical of the region, with easy elegance, healthy and shaped by the character of the loess and weathered conglomerate soils – and constantly on the lookout for new ideas to improve quality!