Wein & Sektmanufaktur Strohmeier

 

Quick Facts

  • Location: Vineyards on the slopes of the Koralpe mountains in Steiermark, Styria, known as the “Green Heart” of Austria. Cold climate with hot summers, wind, and rain.
  • Owner & winemaker: Franz Strohmeier
  • Age of vines: 15 to 50 years
  • Soil: Loam & Opok
  • Vineyard area: 8 hectares
  • Annual production: 30,000 bottles
  • Main varieties: Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Blauer Wildbacher, Zweigelt
  • Vineyard management: Organic farming; very low intervention; biodynamic practices.
  • Winemaking: Low to no intervention; zero sulfites or additives.

 

Fun Facts

  • Franz Strohmeier’s land is home to groves of chestnut trees, some of which he has future plans to turn into barrels for his winery — fully in keeping with his focus on self-sustainability.
  • Franz has begun to plant potatoes among the vineyards, and hopes to add more food crops over time to feed his family and teams of seasonal workers.
  • Here, “low-intervention” farming takes on a new meaning: vines are sprayed with whey instead of copper, maladies are often left untreated so as to promote biodiversity; and a portion of the vineyards grow completely wild without any pruning.
  • Nestled in the vineyards is a pond, which Franz dug himself after noticing a high amount of groundwater at the site. It’s become home to water plants, wildlife, and the occasional meditator. 
  • Franz’s son Simon, back from his studies in gastronomy, has begun to take on more responsibility within the winery and has plans to become more involved long-term.

 

To sit down with Franz Strohmeier is to be challenged to peer into our own relationship with the natural world. Beyond being a low-interventionist  winemaker, Franz is a naturalist and philosopher — his belief in equal exchange between human and plant makes its way into every bottle, infusing the wines with what he describes as  reciprocal energy. Made out of respect for the delicate system of give-and-take in both vineyard and cellar, it’s important to Franz that his wines come from fruit not forced from the vines, but offered freely through gentle farming. In his conviction that energy makes a difference, he’s not alone: across the globe from Canada to Japan, drinkers of Strohmeier wines have reported goosebumps, full-body sensations, and tears shed after their first few sips. 

“I remember when we planted our first vineyard like it was yesterday,” says Franz. It was 1970, and he was six years old. Following his father’s decision to re-focus the family business, relatives set aside their other plants and animals until they’d covered four hectares with vines. Franz, whose older siblings had chosen other paths, recalls knowing at the time that his future would be one of winemaking. After attending oenology school in Klosterneuburg, he returned to work with his father and little by little, with Franz’s newfound expertise, they began to bottle their own wine. Franz’s first vintage was barreled in 1989.

In the decade that followed, Franz would go through a series of revelations leading up to, and through, the opening of his own cellar — along with a marriage and the birth of two children. He’d always felt a personal resistance to chemical farming. “Since I was twelve I was spraying treatments in the vineyards,” he says. “It was a burden for my body and I knew it couldn’t work like that in the long term.”  When he rented vineyards in Sausal, South Styria in the ‘90s, he experimented with low-intervention growing and noticed that his yields were still high, a discovery that would set the stage for the full organic conversion he made in 2003.

At the same time, Franz had begun to question modern techniques used in the world’s most well-known wine cellars. In tasting groups where he sampled wines from California and Germany side-by-side, he was surprised to find more similarities than defining characteristics of each soil and vintage. Then there was the question of market differentiation: in a world of selected yeasts and oak chips, Franz knew he couldn’t compete without creating something truly unique. It took years to develop his own techniques, learning through other Styrian visionaries Muster, Tscheppe and Tauss and through trips to Champagne to refine his skills around bottles with bubbles. 2005 saw the very first Strohmeier zero-zero sparkling wine, and in 2007 he introduced the line we know today as “Trauben, Liebe und Zeit” (TLZ), German for “Grapes, Love, and Time” — the only ingredients in these cuvées.

“The feeling it created in my body was absolutely different from all I’d done before,” says Franz of his first bottling without sulfites. He chalks it up to a sense of complete connection with the surrounding land, plants and animals. “So it’s my idea to take a few steps back from the past twenty years of techniques, all a bit overblown now. It should be more human in the sense that we are emotional, and we can create energy out of our emotions when we guide them.” “Don’t use more than you need” is the basis for Strohmeier’s philosophy; foregoing modern tractors with far more power than needed for his fields, Franz still uses the one he bought from a family member in 1988.

In the cellar Franz employs his philosophy of exchange and responsibility through careful observation, pristine handling, and an absence of ego: “Once the juice is in the barrel, I’m out of power. Then it’s just trusting that everything happens for a reason.” The wines ferment and age in the same neutral oak, acacia, or chestnut barrel, touching stainless steel only for moments during blending and bottling.

When asked about the winery’s future, Franz talks about PiWi grapes and his son Simon. Though vineyard intervention is already minimal — two mowings and four natural sprayings per year — Franz would like to reduce it even further by growing PiWis, which don’t need to be sprayed. Eliminating the tractor would mean bringing in grazing animals and planting more vegetables among the vines, an idea especially of interest to his son Simon who, at 33, has returned from studies in gastronomy to immerse himself in his father’s winery. Franz and Simon share a future vision that weaves sustainable food production, food service, and communal work into the Strohmeier project.

 

www.strohmeier.at

Read Milan Nestarec’s conversation with Franz Strohmeier


Download our handy shelf talkers for Strohmeier wines here:

Franz Strohmeier Jenny & Francois Shelf Talkers

Schilcher Frizzante — Back to the top

Schilcher is a typical product of the Styrian region, known throughout Austria, and frequently paired with fried chicken, a specialty of the region. It is made from an indigenous red grape with high acidity known as Blauer Wildbacher and is most widely made as a still rosé – which Franz makes as well, under the name Lysrød (see below).

Grapes: Blauer Wildbacher

Vineyard: Lestein. Steep slope with loamy Opok soil close to Franz’s house, minimally pruned.

Making of: the grapes are hand-harvested and destemmed, then spend 4 hours on skins. After soft pressing, the alcoholic and malolactic fermentations happen spontaneously in wooden barrels, where the wine then rests for 6 months. Secondary fermentation happens in bottles with added yeast and sugar, for a couple of months. No fining, no filtration.

Personality: vivid, refreshing, invigorating.. you name it! Each sip of this light pink sparkler is like a splash of well-chilled fruit juice, with an electrifying acidic backbone. We’re addicted. In case you don’t finish the bottle on its own (doubt it), Schill Frizz is perfect with all kinds of friend dishes where its pleasant tart notes complement the fat beautifully.

Weiss Sekt — Back to the top

Age of Vines: 12-15 years

Yields: 25 hl/ha

Varieties: 50% Sauvignon Blanc/ 50% Chardonnay

Vinification Method: Hand harvested, first fermentation happens with natural yeast in 500-liter used oak barrels, and with a short skin fermentation (12 hours).  The second fermentation takes place in bottle with added champagne yeast, and it is lightly bubbly. Aged 3 months in bottle and not disgorged. Zero dosage. The wine receives 15 mg/liter of sulfur after the first racking. 

TLZ Lys-rød (fka Schilcher) — Back to the top

The TLZ, Trauben, Leibe, und Zeit (Grapes, Love and Time) are Franz’s zero sulfur added wines.

Lys-rød means “light red” in Danish, in a nod to the special relationship that Franz has with its Danish importer and customers. The wine used to be called Schilcher, which is an established term for a Blauer Wildbacher rosé typical for the region. But the wine being a bit different, freer than what the local people would expect, the Strohmeiers decided for a name change: “We heard so much of ‘your wine doesn’t taste like Schilcher’ that we decided OK, let’s not call it Schilcher then,” Christine laughs. Problem solved.

Vineyard: Lestein, plot close to Franz’s cellar with gneiss and a high content of iron and silica. Planted in the 1980s by winemaker’s father, minimally pruned. 

Varieties (no. 36): 70% Blauer Wildbacher, 30% Zweigelt

Vinification Method (no. 36): Hand-harvested grapes are destemmed and macerated with skins for 6 hours. The wine is pressed to used wooden casks where spontaneous primary fermentation and malolactic fermentation occur. This wine is a blend of two vintages: a small part of the 2024 vintage goes in with 18 months of barrel aging, and the 2025 vintage with 6 months. Unfined, unfiltered, zero added sulfur.

Personality: Rosé as fruity as it gets! Red berries, tangy spice, beautiful acidity. Experience just as refreshing as walking with Franz through this beautiful vineyard on a crisp winter morning.

TLZ Weiss no. 5 — Back to the top

Varieties: 70% Pinot Blanc, 30% Chardonnay

Vineyards: Bad Gams, Stainz. Gneiss with important iron and silica content.

Vinification Method: The grapes are hand-harvested and carefully selected to keep only the ripest bunches. A short (5-hour) skin contact to keep the wine at its freshest, then gentle pressing. Spontaneous alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in 500-liter used wooden barrels, where it then rests for about a year. Bottled unfined, unfiltered, no SO2 added.

Personality: The subtlest touch of skin contact on the nose and palate, heaps of citrus, stone fruit, pleasant saltiness. A treat to be served in big glasses to fully enjoy the evolution.

TLZ Weiss no. 14

Varieties: 70% Pinot Blanc, 30% Chardonnay

Vineyards: Bad Gams and Stainz vineyards, Weststeiermark, Steiermark. High-iron Gneis soil with green cover of grass and herbs.

Making of (2023): Grapes are hand-harvested and selected in the vineyard, then undergo spontaneous fermentation with a short skin contact before pressing into 500-liter wooden barrels. Malolactic fermentation occurs. The wine ages for a total of 12 months in barrels before bottling.

Personality: A dry and textured still white wine; the winemaker suggests decanting for full effect.

TLZ Sonne — Back to the top

Sonne means sun in German, a fitting name for this wine’s lush and generous character. Mature fruit and lavish skin-contact notes leave no space for the grassy characteristics of commercial Sauvignons. One of Strohmeier’s top wines, a real treat and also keeper – older vintages of this wine are truly stunning, in case you can wait…

Varieties: Sauvignon Blanc

Vineyards: Bad Gams, Stainz. Gneiss with important iron and silica content.

Making of: the grapes are hand-harvested and carefully selected in the vineyard, keeping only very healthy and ripe grapes and picking out any damaged berries – this stage is crucial for having a top-quality material for the prolonged skin contact that follows. After destemming, the grapes are gently crushed and spend 4 weeks on skins. Gentle pneumatic pressing, spontaneous primary and malolactic fermentation. The wine is bottled after 12 months of maturation in used 500-liter wooden barrels – 50% in acacia, 50% oak. Unfiltered, unfined, zero sulfur added.

Personality: The skin contact on this wine is more prevalent than in the TLZ Weiss, but this is still a wine of subtlety and finesse, very in balance and faintly amber in color. Serve in big glasses to savor all its layers.

TLZ Wein der Stille — Back to the top

Grapes: the N. 10 (2017 vintage) is 90% Sauvignon blanc and 10% Chardonnay, Muskateller and Weißburgunder.

Vineyard: Stainz. Gneiss with big iron- and silicon content

Making of: the grapes are hand-harvested and carefully selected in the vineyard, keeping only very healthy and ripe grapes and picking out any damaged berries – this stage is crucial for having a top-quality material for the prolonged skin contact that follows. The grapes are fermented as whole bunches, stems included, in 500 and 600 liter barrels for 12 months. The mash is then pressed and the wine matures further 24 months in neutral barrels before bottling. Unfiltered, unfined, zero sulfur added.

Personality: hypnotic, exciting, mesmerizing. Quite smooth and silky with incredible depth of flavors and a crunchy tannic finish.

TLZ Rot — Back to the top

Grapes (no. 11): Zweigelt and Blauer Wildbacher

Vineyard: Bad Gams. Gneiss with big iron- and silicon content

Making of: the grapes are hand-harvested and carefully selected in the vineyard. Spontaneously fermented for 4 weeks, gently pressed and then matured for 24 months in neutral barrels (used 225-liter, 500-liter, 300-liter) before bottling. Unfiltered, unfined, zero sulfur added.

Personality: electrifying and endless! Lots of energy, beautiful mouthfeel and wild fruit flavor that go on and on and on. Great potential, too.

Rosé Sekt Brut Nature — Back to the top

Grapes: Blauer Wildbacher

Vineyard: Lestein. Steep slope with loamy Opok soil close to Franz’s house. Vines planted in the early 1980s, minimally pruned.

Making of: the grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed, and then spend 12 hours on skins. After soft pressing, the must ferments spontaneously (both primary and malolactic) in steel tanks and wooden barrels (50/50), for about 8 months. The wine is bottled with an addition of sugar and yeast for the second fermentation; after 36 months of maturation in bottles, the wine is disgorged and 15ppm SO2 is added. Zéro dosage.

Personality: fruity but also creamy and velvety – compared to the Schilcher Frizzante you can definitely see its prolonged maturation and deeper savory layers.

TLZ Karmin no. 14 — Back to the top

Grapes: Blauer Wildbacher

Vineyard: Bad Gams. Gneiss with important iron and silica content.

Making of (2024): Grapes are harvested by hand with  careful selection for quality and ripeness, then are de-stemmed, crushed, and macerated on skins for 3 hours. The wine is gently pressed, spontaneously fermented and aged for 12 months in used 500-liter wooden barrels (mostly oak, a small part acacia). Unfined, unfiltered, no sulfur added.

Personality: this Strohmeier classic lives in the compelling light red / deep soulful rosé niche. Serve around 15 degrees C to enjoy its layer after layer after layer; Franz even recommends decanting it if you’re into it.

TLZ Indigo — Back to the top 

This deep, ink-blue red is one of Franz’s top wines, made with old Blauer Wildbacher vines in the best vintages. Just like the color whose name it carries, this wine is deep and intriguing; it also ages gracefully, so the patient among us will be greatly rewarded.

Varieties: Blauer Wildbacher

Vineyard: Lestein. Steep slope on Gneiss with loamy topsoil and important iron contet, close to Franz’s house. Vines planted in the 1980s by his father, one-wire trained. 

Making of: the grapes are hand-harvested, with a careful selection of only the ripe and healthy grapes. The crushed grapes then spend 4 weeks on skins, going through the spontaneous primary fermentation. After soft pressing, the wine spends 24 months in used 500-liter and smaller wooden barrels. Unfined, unfiltered, no sulfur added.

Personality: Red so deep it turns blue which turns black. The most beautiful color you’ll ever drink. An everlasting upward spiral to the layers of pleasure where words fail you. Treat yourself.

Cat-Silver — Back to the top

Cat Silver

“Cat-silver” is how the Strohmeiers call the silicate stones with very thin layers sparkling on the soil of all their vineyards. A perfect name for a wine that shows all varieties of grapes and vineyards they work with.

Varieties: all grapes found in across all the Strohmeier vineyards, including some PiWi hybrids. White grapes (Sauvignon blanc, Pinot blanc, Chardonnay, Bronner, Muscaris, Büten-Muskateller) as well red grapes (Souvignier gris) and dark grapes (Zweigelt, Blauer Wildbacher, Cabernet Jura, Merlot, Rösler, Regent).

Vineyards: blend of St.Stefan, Stainz, Bad Gams plots. Opok (limestone marl), gneiss

Making of: blend of skin-fermented and direct-press grapes. Spontaneous alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in wooden casks. The wine is bottled after 8 months (= early by Strohmeier standards), with a small dose of sulfur (15 mg/l). No fining or filtration.

Personality: hazy fun co-ferment. Fruity, with distinct tannic structure, good liveliness.

 

Blanc d’Orange (fka Weisser Frizzante)  — Back to the top

Varieties: 45% Sauvignon Blanc, 40% Pinot Blanc, 15% Zweigelt, all from minimally pruned vineyards

Soil: Gneiss with fertile top-soil

Winemaking: Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Blanc are skin-fermented for 3 weeks and then blended with the direct-press Zweigelt. After 8 months of aging in wooden barrels, the wines are bottled with yeast and organic sugar and the secondary fermentation happens in bottles. No sulfur added.

Personality: floral, fine-bubbling dry sparkler with funky earthiness.

 

Roter Frizzante — Back to the top

Grapes: Zweigelt

Vineyard: Lestein. Steep slope with loamy Opok soil close to Franz’s house, minimally pruned.

Making of: the grapes are manually harvested and destemmed. Part of them ferments as whole berries, part is crushed and macerated on skins until the fermentation starts. Soft press, spontaneous fermentation in steel tank and wooden barrel for 6 months, spontaneous malolactic fermentation. Yeast and sugar addition for the second fermentation in bottles. Unfined, unfiltered, undisgorged, no SO2 added.

Personality: utterly delicious! Light dry red with a gentle fizz and heaps of red fruit and spicy undertones. Impossible to put down until the bottle is empty (and then you wish it was a magnum). Serve well chilled in big glasses for sparkling wine.

 

Lysegrön label

TLZ Lysegrøn — Back to the top

Lysegrøn means “light green” in Danish, in a nod to the special relationship that Franz has with its Danish importer and customers, esp. Noma, whose appreciation for his then-unusually natural wines kept the Strohmeier winery afloat when their Austrian customers turned their backs on their zero-sulfur approach.

Grapes: Weissburgunder (aka Pinot Blanc)

Vineyard: Bad Gams and Stainz. Gneiss with important iron and silica content.

Making of: the grapes are harvested by hand with a careful selection of only very healthy and ripe bunches. Free-run juice only, spontaneously fermented and matured for 12 months in used 500-liter wooden oak barrels. Unfined, unfiltered, no sulfur added.

Personality: superb structure and elegance of the grape. Serve at 15 degrees Celsius in big glasses to fully appreciate it.

TLZ Gelb — Back to the top

Grapes: Chardonnay

Vineyard: Bad Gams. Gneiss with important iron and silica content.

Making of: the grapes are harvested by hand with a careful selection of only very healthy and ripe bunches. The grapes spend a couple of hours on skins, are gently pressed. Spontaneously fermented and matured for 10 months in used 300-liter wooden oak barrels. Unfined, unfiltered, no sulfur added.

Personality: bright yellow as the name suggests, with lovely haze. Honey, yellow fruit, a touch of sweet spice. Enticing, deep wine with lingering minerality and beautiful freshness.

TLZ Gratitude no. 4

An addition to the “Trauben, Liebe und Zeit” line, made with so-called PiWis (hybrids bred specifically to be disease-resistant, hence very useful for organic growers in wet places like Western Styria). When asked about the name, Franz says with his typical broad warm smile: “Because I think we all should feel gratitude for the good things we have in life!” 

No. 4: Aged 36 months in old oak, this is the late bottling of the No. 3 release — the same cuvée bottled 16 months later.

Grapes: Souvignier Gris, Muscaris, Bronner

Vineyard: Bad Gams, Stainz. Gneiss with important iron and silica content.

Making of (2022): the grapes are harvested by hand with careful selection for quality and ripeness. Fermented on skins for 4 weeks before pneumatic pressing. Spontaneous primary and malolactic fermentation, bottled after 36 months’ aging in an old wooden barrel (550 liters). Unfined, unfiltered, no sulfur added.

Personality: aromatic, sunny, fun, kind and vibrant. The kind of wine that instantly makes you feel good. And grateful .)

TLZ Shine

The name of this new wine is a play on Sonne, one of Franz’s signature wines that he’s been making since 2008. “Shine, just like Sonne, is 100% Sauvignon blanc. So the sun is shining again here with 100% Sauvignon blanc, but this time with no skin fermentation. Therefore, TLZ Sonne shows the more expressive side of the grape, while TLZ Shine is a bit more elegant and straightforward,” Franz says.

Grapes: Sauvignon Blanc

Vineyard: Bad Gams, Stainz. Gneiss with important iron and silica content.

Making of: the grapes are harvested by hand with careful selection, keeping only very healthy and ripe grapes, and taking out any unhealthy berries. Destemmed and crushed, pneumatic pressing. Spontaneous primary and malolactic fermentation, bottled after 12 months in a used wooden barrel (500 liters). Unfined, unfiltered, no sulfur added.

Personality: a very fitting name for this supremely fresh, bright and vivid white.

TLZ Geduld no. 2

Variety: Cabernet Jura

Vineyard: Stainz vineyard in Weststeiermark, Steiermark. Lively, high-iron Gneiss soil with green cover of natural grass and herbs. 

Making of (2024): Grapes are hand-harvested and very carefully selected for quality & full ripeness before being left for 6 weeks to macerate on skins (the winemakers noticed a natural reduction in acidity). Spontaneous fermentation occurs. The wine is pressed to wooden barrels to age for 12 months, then bottled unfined, unfiltered, with nothing added.

TLZ Namida no. 2

Variety: Two thirds Riesling, one third a blend of other grapes.

Vineyard: Stainz vineyard in Weststeiermark, Steiermark. Lively, high-iron Gneiss soil with green cover of natural grass and herbs. 

Making of (2023): Grapes are hand-harvested and very carefully selected for quality & full ripeness, then macerated for 3 hours on skins before being gently pressed to wooden barrels. Spontaneous fermentation occurs, and the winemakers noticed a natural reduction in acidity. The wine ages for one year in old 600-liter oak barrels before being bottled unfined, unfiltered, with nothing added.

The Spiral Rosé Sekt Brut Nature 2014

A special sparkling cuvée made only from the best barrels of each vintage of Blauer Wildbacher Rosé) that Franz started in 2014. Longer lees contact brings the wine more complexity and finer bubbles compared to his “classic” sekts.

Grapes: Blauer Wildbacher

Vineyard: Lestein. Steep slope with loamy Opok soil close to Franz’s house. Vines planted in the early 1980s, minimally pruned.

Making of: the grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed, and then spend 12 hours on skins. After soft pressing, the must ferments spontaneously (both primary and malolactic) in steel tanks and wooden barrels (50/50), for about 8 months. The wine is bottled with an addition of organic sugar and yeast for the second fermentation; after 7 years of maturation in bottles, the wine is disgorged and 10ppm SO2 is added. Zéro dosage.

Personality: fruity but also creamy and velvety – compared to the Schilcher Frizzante you can definitely see its prolonged maturation and deeper savory layers.

Schiller Frizzante

Grapes: 75% Blauer Wildbacher, 25% Zweigelt 

Vineyard: Lestein, Bad Gams, and Stainz vineyards in Weststeiermark, Steiermark. Loamy Opok soil with green cover of natural grass and herbs. 40+ year old vines with minimal pruning, plus one plot of 34 year old vines, wire-trained.

Making of (2025): Grapes are destemmed and macerated with skins for 2 hours before being gently pressed into wooden barrels for spontaneous fermentation. The wine ages in barrels for 6 months where malolactic fermentation occurs; at bottling, both yeast and must are added for a second fermentation in-bottle to make this a traditional-method sparkling wine.

Personality: A dry, light sparkling rosé.