Steiner
Gneiss and mica schist
The Steiner site in Sopron lies at the southwestern tip of Lake Neusiedl on a gentle, eastward-facing slope. In the 1680 town chronicles this site was classified as the finest and most valuable vineyard in all of western Hungary (present-day Burgenland). The gneiss and mica schist, which are present all the way to the surface, make the soil porous and thus dry and warm.
Orography: Slope slightly inclined to the East towards the lake
Soil: Brown earth, rocky, lime-free, deeply rooted
Geology: Weathered light gneiss
Age: approx. 340 million years
Altitude: 184 meter
Kékfrankos
A very distinct wine. The rocky soil absorbs heat during the day. This delivers a lot of spice as well as dark berry and herbal aromas. The tannins compete for attention on the palate.
Density: 3300 vines/hectare
Age of Vines: 50 years
Steiner 2016 Steiner 2017 Steiner 2018
Furmint
The barren soil of the site seems ideal for this variety. Unlike on the limestone, it gets a slightly more mature, golden aroma here.
Density: 5800 vines/hectare
Age of Vines: 23 years / crafted to Furmint 2017
Steiner Furmint 2018 Steiner Furmint 2019 Stein Furmint 2020 Stein Furmint 2021
Franz about the history of the vineyard:
An east slope towards Lake Neusiedl. In 1997 we bought this site knowing that it was a special place.
At that time still referred to as Spern Steiner, mainly Kékfrankos (Blaufränkisch) grew on it. But a closer look at the Sopron archive made it clear that the site used to be planted with white wine, mainly Furmint. It was mostly produced "Oedenburger Ausbruch", a sweet wine made from noble rotten grapes.
In the archive you will also find that the locations were first described in 1680, or rather divided into tax classes - depending on how much one could gain economically from the location. The Sopron archive describes the sites from Neckenmarkt (Himmelsthron, Sonnenberg, Silberberg) via Deutschkreutz (Kreuzer) and Sopron to Rust. This is also logical since many of these wines were marketed as Oedenburg and were sold far beyond the borders in this way (which was something special at the time). The first wine-growing association was also founded in Sopron, which then served as a model for representing the interests of wine-growers in Austria-Hungary.
Steiner (still called Stainer at the time) was taxed at 6 denarii at the time, making it one of the highest-quality vineyards in the region. In the middle of the 18th century, Sopron wine was in financial difficulties. Sugar cane imports from Central and South America made it difficult for sweet wine production. After the phylloxera catastrophe, it was decided to plant more red wine grapes, and so the Kékfrankos came to Sopron.