The Southburgenland

With 500 hectares of vineyards, the Südburgenland is the smallest wine-growing area in the state of Burgenland – and one of the smallest in Austria. Südburgenland is bordered in the east by Hungary and Slovenia, and in the west by the Austrian states of Steiermark and Niederösterreich.

The majority of the area is cultivated by those for who produce wine as a side profession. There are only a few large wineries. A significant portion of the wine production is sold in many Buschenschenken – wine taverns - which dot the gentle hills of the region.

The Südburgenland, with more than 300 (!) sunny days per year, is fundamentally different from the northern part of Burgenland. Climatically, Südburgenland is situated at the crossroads of the warm Pannonian climate and the somewhat cooler and wetter microclimate of the East Styrian Hügelland. Here are stronger night and day temperature differences, a higher amount of rainfall, and a different geomorphological position.

The Geschriebenstein, 884 meters high, is the highest point of the Günser Bergland mountains as well as the entire state of Burgenland. On this foothill of the crystalline-paleozoic segment of the Bucklige Welt  are deep loam soils with blue shale inclusions.

The Blaufränkisch grapes are completely at home in the Pannonian-influenced microclimate here, in the wind-protected sites of the Eisenberg - around the villages Deutsch-Schützen und Eisenberg - and in the minerally, iron-rich loam and slate soils. The iron-rich slate soils of the Eisenberg have a thin layer of loam/loamy sand. The soils around Deutsch Schützen, on the other hand, feature distinctly deep and, at times, very heavy soils.

The shell-shaped landscape is open to the Southeast, in the direction of the Pannonian Plain. The area is marked by dry, warm Summers and long, warm Falls. And because the forests support the notable cooling down of night time temperatures, the fruit and aroma development in the wines are enhanced.

All of these conditions are ideal for individual wines – which is why these two old border villages are the center of quality wine-growing for all of Südburgenland.