... and present

Axel Stiegelmar and his father Georg have developed a modern winery over the past 10 years drawing on the experience and tradition of the past. Special attention has always been given to careful handling of the winery’s grapes, which are all manually harvested. The transport of grapes, mash, must, and wine now functions predominantly through gravity. Four separate handling areas were built over one another in a tower.

JURIS is one of the pioneers in Austria of maturation in small oak barrels with the first oak-aged wine being produced in 1983. After their maturation in cask, the bottled wines are held in Austria’s first passive-energy storage area until their market release.

JURIS recognized the importance of an international presence very early. The most prestigious success so far was the title “Winemaker of the year 1995” at the international Wine and Spirit Competition in London. Also very flattering were the words of Robert Mondavi, who was then the president of the competition and described the title as being given to one with “the total command of winemaking”.

Also very important was the “Austrian Red Wine Trophy” given to the St. Laurent 1993 Barrique the first time the prize was ever given at the Wine Challenge in London. Before these awards, very little international attention had ever been given Austrian red wines.

The JURIS Winery was also the initiator for three very important changes in Austrian wine law:
1. Fining of red wines with fresh egg whites permitted in 1987.
2. Production of wines from grapes dried on straw or reeds in 1982.
3. Production of white wines from black grapes permitted in 1983.

The JURIS winery is a member of the Renommierte Weingüter Burgenland.