Location: Mörbisch am See, Burgenland
Hectares: 12
Farming: Certified biodynamic
Winemaking: Everything aged in used barrique from 15-20 years old, sulfur levels 30-40mg, wild yeasts, no fining or filtering

Jakob Schönberger didn’t grow up with aspirations to be a winegrower. In fact he studied literature and political science in Germany, but his father, Günther’s hobby project got the best of him and today he’s a dedicated farmer and winemaker on the west side of Lake Neusiedl in Burgenland. Jakob’s parents are from South Styria and Günther was one of Austria’s most famous and beloved pop stars. On tour one year in the mid-80s, he and his band stopped in Mörbisch to play a show on the lake and befriended a local winemaker. The friendship led to Günther purchasing a small vineyard and making just 2 barrels of wine. By 1995 he’d purchased another 5 hectares and that was just too much for a side gig, so he left the band and settled into winegrowing full-time. As a child, Jakob would hang in the vines with his family and friends, but the desire to work in wine didn’t come until much later. A trained sommelier and chef (he formerly worked with Herbert König at a restaurant in Graz!), the connection between wine and the tangible food world became really clear and Jakob eventually went to viticulture school in Vienna and joined the winery in 2011. He lives in Vienna, his parents in Graz, and they all commute to Mörbisch where they have a small winery right in the village.

Mörbisch sits on the southwestern flank of Neusiedl, right on the Hungarian border. For 50 years the area was full of tanks and soldiers with only one road in and out of the village, so to say it’s old-school here is an understatement. The mentality of most farmers is generally closed off and the region hasn’t embraced holistic farming like the northeastern side of the lake. Most farming is conventional but Gunther and Jakob were the first to become biodynamic, and even after 30 years here, the Schönbergers are still seen as the outsiders. Grape growing has declined rapidly, with an over 50% reduction in vines since the beginning of the 90s due to a lack of general interest in farming. Most of the former vineyards have been turned into farmland, even though Mörbisch was originally a wine village settled by the Romans with evidence of Chardonnay growing here 2,000 years ago. By comparison, Gols, where Judith Beck is, only has a 60-year wine history but huge numbers of vines and holistic farming.

Because Gunther started farming as a hobby, he planted a lot of unusual varieties for the area such as sauvignon blanc, viognier, merlot, and cabernet sauvignon, things he liked to drink, and also employed farming techniques he learned from his travels throughout Europe. For example, one of the Schönberger’s older vineyards is all trained in the Burgundian style, very low to the ground. Their soils are almost exclusively clay except for Kräften vineyard, which is really special in that it’s loaded with schist, which is incredibly unusual in Mörbisch. The lake is a bit marshier here and doesn’t push humidity as it does along the northern coast.

Wine growing in Mörbisch is extremely humble, and it’s clear that the area was meant for the peasants. The fact that the Schönbergers ended up here, making hobby wine on a very poor terroir, is something quite special. Jakob is a terrific and skilled farmer and the wines speak volumes about his family’s devotion to good food, good music, and the joys of sharing both with loved ones.