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Food & Wine

Pannonian Alchemists

Personality Profile: Heidi Schröck

On every adventure tour we take you behind stage for a candid interview with a young professional working in the Austrian wine industry

Winemaker Heidi Schröck is perhaps the most prolific woman in the Austrian wine branch today. Heidi gained several years’ international experience before finishing her studies in viticulture and enology in Germany and South Africa. Historic wine culture in Rust plays a central role for Heidi who says, "Continuing tradition doesn't mean protecting the ashes, but stoking the fire and keeping it burning."

What is the most exciting thing about the Austrian wine branch?

Modern wines in the old world! It's exciting to be a part of a new avant-garde generation in the wine world. Here in Austria, we are proud of our very individual autochthon grape varieties and we are using the most modern techniques both in the vineyard and in the winery.

What to you love most about your wine region?

Burgenland is the essence of central Europe: it is multicultural today and always has been in history. It is the border between Occident and Orient. Of course, I love all the sun and living by Lake Neusiedl!

What do you enjoy most in your work?

It is the people I enjoy most in every aspect of my work. I enjoy the people I work with in the vineyards and the cellar, the people I get to meet all over the world through marketing efforts, and of course, I really enjoy the people I drink wine with.

If you had to take one wine to each of following, what would it be and why?

A Rendezvous?

I need deep conversation to get close to someone. I'd bring a medium-bodied, easy-to-drink wine like an unoaked Blaufränkisch; something with just enough alcohol to chase away inhibitions, but not enough to hamper conversation.

Dinner with very good friends?

I'd take my "best friend" the Weissburgunder from a vineyard that has never disappointed me!

An isolated desert island?

I would take a golden sweet Ausbruch from Rust. I'd keep the bottle cool in the water as I drank it. And the bottle is clear! Perfect for a romantic rescue message in a bottle.