Fritz Wieninger runs two estates in Vienna – and they could not be more different.
Hajszan Neumann is his wild natural wine experimental field on the Nussberg, where rough edges are expressly welcome. While elegance and precision reign at the sister estate Wieninger, here wines are allowed to polarise. Farmed biodynamically, fermented on the skins and bottled unfiltered, 20 hectares of weathered limestone soils yield wines that shatter every convention. As co-president of RESPEKT-BIODYN and a pioneer of the Wiener Gemischter Satz as a natural wine, Fritz reveals his experimental side here – far removed from classical expectations.
Two faces of one winemaker
In 2014 Fritz Wieninger took over the estate from his friend Stefan Hajszan and the architect Heinz Neumann, and with it the chance to indulge his passion for uncompromising natural wine. While Stefan emigrated to New Zealand, Fritz now runs two entirely different projects side by side: the classic Weingut Wieninger stands for Viennese elegance,
Hajszan Neumann for unbridled experiment. This is where wines such as the
Natural Gemischter Satz 2023 are made, taking the time-honoured Viennese speciality into entirely new territory. This deliberate split allows Fritz to win over purists and avant-gardists alike.
Stefan Hajszan had already become
the first Viennese grower to convert to biodynamics in 2006, a vision Fritz pursues with the same rigour. As co-president of RESPEKT-BIODYN he works closely with colleagues such as Fred Loimer of
Loimer to advance the biodynamic movement in Austria.
Wild West on Vienna's Nussberg
The 20 hectares on the Nussberg in Grinzing are among the
most historic vineyards in the capital. Vines grow here on weathered limestone soils in the sites Nussberg, Weissleiten and Steinberg, some of them among the oldest in Austria. Yet while other growers on the Nussberg rely on proven winemaking, Hajszan Neumann follows the principle of
radical non-intervention. The
Natural Grüner Veltliner 2023 is made by spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts, five months in concrete eggs, followed by ageing in older 500-litre casks.
Vienna is one of the few capitals in the world with its own vineyards inside the city limits, and Hajszan Neumann uses this singularity for uncompromising natural wines.
Any fining or filtration is taboo; the wines are meant to show their rough, untamed side. The same philosophy runs through the
Natural Grüner Veltliner 2023, which ferments for five months with wild yeasts in concrete egg, stays unfiltered and brings the variety to the glass angular, herbal and deliberately raw.
Gemischter Satz as a natural-wine revolution
In 2013 Viennese
Gemischter Satz became the first wine style to receive DAC status, and Fritz Wieninger played a key part in it. As a founding member and chairman of the growers' association WienWein, he fought for recognition of this unique tradition, in which different grape varieties are planted, harvested and vinified together. At Hajszan Neumann he went a step further:
this is where the first Viennese Gemischter Satz was made as a natural wine.
This innovation captures Fritz's dual role perfectly: on the one hand a guardian of Viennese wine tradition, on the other a radical innovator. Grüner Veltliner, Riesling, Weissburgunder, Traminer and Muskateller grow side by side here, are picked together and
fermented on the skins into a wild, vibrant wine. The result is deliberately polarising and shows how tradition and the avant-garde can merge.
A laboratory with a culinary vision
At the estate, winemaking and cuisine come together in the restaurant "Hans & Fritz", where star chef Juan Amador (Hans) and Fritz Wieninger
explore sensory boundaries together. The collaboration reflects the philosophy of Hajszan Neumann: bold experiments and the exploration of new worlds of flavour beyond established norms.
With Hajszan Neumann, Fritz Wieninger proves that even established winemakers are allowed a wild side.
The wines are meant to surprise, unsettle and delight, all at once. At a time when natural wines are often dismissed as a fad, this project shows how seriously and consistently Austria's top growers devote themselves to the subject. Hajszan Neumann is more than a wine estate: it is Fritz Wieninger's manifesto for uncompromising natural wine on Vienna's Nussberg.
