Growing up amidst the picturesque vineyards of Mittelburgenland, Katrin Lautner developed a deep appreciation for wine from a young age. Though her family has no winemaking pedigree, there is strong wine culture in Mittelburgenland, affectionately known in Austria as ‘Blaufränkischland.’ Following high school, unsure of what to study, Katrin found a university course in viticulture and decided to see if it was for her. After two semesters, and an internship with our friend Leo Sommer, Katrin realized she had developed a love for vineyard work and winemaking. She spent subsequent harvest seasons in New Zealand, working at a large conventional winery using enzymes, pitched yeasts and other physical tools to manipulate wines in the cellar. In short, she learned what she would like not to do.

Luckily, Katrin was able to connect with Markus Altenburger in Jois, and work for five years there as an intern. Markus was himself in transition from a more traditional winery to the contemporary natural estate he manages now. In her time there, Markus entrusted Katrin with fruit to make her first wine, Wilde Karotte, in 2019. This experience gave her the confidence and drive to seek out her own vineyards and cellar. In 2021 Katrin rented her first hectare of vineyards, as well as a small cellar and decided to make the plunge full time. Today she manages 2.5 hectares of organic vineyards, while also running the Hungarian cellar of local legend Franz Weninger.

Much is made of the rather famous crew of natural vignerons and winegrowers that populate the north east side of Lake Neusiedl in Gols, and Jois. This is a low lying area, heavily influenced by the Lake, and defined by a general lack of elevation and soil exposition. The same cannot be said for Mittelburgenland and Katrin’s hometown of Neckenmarkt. Katrin’s long, sloping vineyards are positioned between 200 to 360 meters above sea level. The bottom of the slopes are heavy with loam and sand, and the top contain thinner soils with veins of exposed schist and limestone. Her vineyards are subject to the same Pannonian climate as our friends on the opposite side of the lake, with rather dry winters and hot summers over the past few years. Thunderstorms are fairly regular in the summer, making mildew pressure a real issue in the region. For Katrin, all farming is organic, with a focus on biodiversity and spraying and mowing as little as possible. Cover crops and trees are planted to encourage healthy soils, and everything in the vineyard is worked by hand by Katrin and her family.

In the cellar, ferments occur in stainless steel and élevage is at least eleven months in neutral barrels. The wines are always unfined, and unfiltered with minimal sulfitage at bottling (15-20 mg/l). Working with Markus Altenburger, and in recent years Franz Weninger, has opened Katrin’s eyes to the notion that although wines in the region have often been extracted, manipulated and high in alcohol- that elegance, beauty and finesse are possible here as well. She does not plan to expand her vineyard size, in part because she is more interested in learning and knowing the land, than maximizing its economic potential. Though her pedigree is through with successful and well known mentors, Katrin employs a style that is distinctly her own. It would have been easy to repeat or mimic the techniques she had learned at these wineries, but instead Katrin chose to enlist her own ideas and creative pursuits in the cellar. Her wines have a specific lightness and ethereal quality that is often lacking in this part of Burgenland. Specifically, in regards to her Blaufränkisch, which is a variety that has been twisted and contorted and over-extracted to meet the perceived needs of the international market. Katrin achieves depth without weight, and her Blaufränkisch has the phenolic ripeness necessary to create an interesting and compelling wine. This is an immense first offering from Katrin, and we are quite excited to see what subsequent vintages have in store for her.