Gumpolds can be pure delight.

 “Every professions means hard work, but what I do that’s my affair”

Klaus and Elisabeth Straitz are Straitz².

Already in elementary school, Klaus Straitz wrote into his colleagues’ albums: “I want to become a wine-grower.”

 Already since 1781, the winery in Gumpoldskirchen, a small village, a twenty minutes car-ride south of vienna, belongs to the family. Like most farms in these parts, it started out with mixed agriculture, it was as late as the 1960s that it was converted to wine with a focus on “Buschenschank”. Klaus Straitz visited the Klosterneuburg School of Viniculture; He graduated in 1993 and started working with his grandfather.

"At Mouton they sell socks. I sell wine."

Naturally, when young Klaus returned from an internship in Bordeaux and started to grow Cabernet, this resulted in a generation conflict. He finally found his own style with the 2001 vintage: “By now, even the Rotgipfler is dry”, he smiles and thinks that it’s “bizarre that you can buy a reprint of a label, t-shirts or a pair of socks but no wine at Chateau Mouton Rothschild”. This is different at his place, there you definitely get wine. In the Buschenschank he is in charge together with his mother, who supplies the excellent snacks: “and when you finally sit together with the guests and start talking about wine, that’s the best part of it”.

The labels are designed by himself and won an award.

His wife Evelyn got hooked on his Welschriesling 98 – she’ll move from the head office of the Salzburg fair company to Gumpoldskirchen and as experienced boss of the “Alles für den Gast” fair, she certainly will bring some marketing input. We can definitely look forward to Straitz³.

The winery’s best sites are called Jungherren, Schwaben, Eichkogel, Katzbühel and Rasslerin, most of them have pure southern exposure and diverse soils; there’s everything from sand to stiff clay and shell limestone, the remains of the primordial ocean. These sites require a great deal of maintenance as the five hectares are split into 21 small single lots.

His labels are distinct and simple, the abbreviations show the customers the way: “WR” means “Welschriesling”, “BB” “Blauer Burgunder”, etc, just like the way the winemakers traditionally mark their wines with chalk on the barrels. Straitz doesn’t think much of descriptions like “Grand Select” and the like: “the ‘Privat’ I simply drink myself”, he smiles to himself.

Relax and taste the wines in the shadow of old trees at the Straitz garden.

The Heuriger is open to the public seven times a year, each time for two or three weeks; The exact dates can be found on the website www.straitz.com. Then you can philosophize with Klaus himself, he’s usually behind the counter or sitting down at the table with his customers in the beautiful garden. Each wine is available by the glass in a matching Riedel glass.

His hobby is his Apple Mc. Intosh, a fact especially noticeable in his website, his labels and his organization. He even collects them and by now owns 24, the oldest being from 1980. There’s not much time left for anything else, as he simply enjoys his work and prefers to do everything in the vineyards and the cellar himself. His own label design has already been awarded a prize.

He sees the problem of the Thermenregion in the derelict vineyards that could not be sold and are therefore by now in a condition where clearing them would be too expensive. He doesn’t really wish to expand because the business is not really cut out for that, but it’s also a question of quality – if he was offered top sites for an attractive price, it would be difficult for him to say no. Therefore, his aim is healthy growth. He preferably wants to reduce the varieties and to push “what people like best.”

 Look good, taste great: chocolate pralines from Schell & Straitz.

Always good for new ideas, this is Klaus Straitz, too. For some time past, there are also Straitz wine chocolates: at a fair, Klaus met confectioner Eberhard Schell from Stuttgart whose ideas as well as the quality of his products convinced him (his chocolates are also available at the Vienna Imperial Hotel).

Since then, Straitz chocolates are a popular gift.

And if you stay too long (like me) at the hospitable place in Gumpoldskirchen, take a box of chocolate and a bottle of wine - and your partner will be happy if you go there again very soon.

FAQ - Rap.

Book last read: “Secrets behind Apple”

Favorite film: “Rocky Horror Picture Show”

Car: Dodge Ram Pickup “because he’s perfect for delivering.”

Who’d he spend an evening with: Jamie Lee Curtis

Favorite music: various, from Georg Danzer (Austrian singer/songwriter) to U2

What’s always in his fridge: milk for coffee, calf’s liver spread, Parmesan and 80% mayonnaise “for the sausage”.

Favorite wine: “This is difficult to decide, there are too many of them; A short while ago I was delighted by the 92 ‘President’s Selection’ of Wolf Blass.”

Favorite dish: “I like everything – and I especially enjoy potatoes as a side dish, either with parsley or as mashed potatoes with salted and smoked meat.”

Favorite pub: “Actually, I’m glad when I can stay at home. In a club you can barely talk, so I there is no reason to go out. If I’m abroad, I like to go out, for example at Lamm’s in Munich, which is open 23 hours a day.”

Klaus Staitz is definitely on his way up. A steady increase in quality and an excellent collection made him one of our “climbers of the year” in 2003, the two stars are well-deserved.

Click here for the wine ratings:

http://www.wein-plus.com/austrian_guide/Straitz+und+Straitz_10178.html 

Click here to visit the winery:

http://www.straitz.com