The Conscious Winemaker

A personal conviction to tread lightly on the earth drives Johannes Gebeshuber from Weingut Gebeshuber's mission to restore the glorious quality of Zierflander and Rotgipfler from Gumpoldskirchen, Austria.

- June Lee

For biodynamic wines, we have Austrian metaphysical theorist Rudolf Steiner to thank, who devised the Demeter biodynamic concept according to his doctrine of ‘anthroposophy’ in the 1920s. The holistic concept of biodynamic farming focuses on the farm and soils as living, self-sustaining organisms to be cultivated naturally without any need for synthetic intervention.

On my seminal visit to Vienna for the 20th anniversary of wine fair VieVinum in 2018, I found that Austrian winemakers young and old were resonating with the century-old writings of Steiner with good reason – they are truly attached to their pristine lands and the traditional, closed loop method of farming which continues to make so much sense today.

One of these meetings happened almost by chance while I was on an excursion to the village of Gumpoldskirchen for a vertical tasting of Zierflander, an autochthonous grape that once brought fame to the region but was now reduced to just 77 hectares under vine in all of Austria. The trip from Vienna to the Thermenregion led me to the quietly charismatic founder and winemaker Johannes Gebeshuber.

Disciplined disciple

A few months after, I meet Johannes inSingapore, where he’s supporting the annual Austrian Wine Festival organised by Leopold’s bar and vinothek. Celebrating his 50th birthday, Johannes easily looks 10 years younger, thanks to his athletic background and vegetarian diet for the past 30 years. A persistent stomach problem at 20 led him to quit eating meat and stop smoking, while he turned his interest to Chinese philosophy and other teachings.