There is more than a little irony that Gernot and Heike Heinrich met in a beer garden. That was more than 30 years ago, in Salzburg, Austria. Heike was from Germany, working in fashion and PR. Gernot had vineyards waiting for him back home, in Austria’s red wine haven of Burgenland. In 1989, when Gernot returned to his parents’ estate in the village of Gols, they had scarcely a hectare, so the duo started their own estate parallel to the family’s. Since then, the growth of Weingut Heinrich has been as swift as it has been considered. At the time Gernot and Heike were married, in 1993, they were up to 2 hectares. Today, it’s 100+ hectares, entirely farmed biodynamically or in conversion to biodynamics, certified by both Demeter and Respekt Biodyn. The wines are made, in Gernot’s words, by “allowing them and ourselves the freedom of increasingly less intervention,” and above all with an acute sense of rhythm, place, and time.

The winery is located in the municipality of Gols in the Burgenland DAC area of Neusiedlersee. The vineyards are located on both sides of Lake Neusiedl: on the west side in the cool, calcareous slopes of the Leithaberg, such as Alter Berg, Edelgraben and Hackelsberg, as well as in the warmer, south-facing sites around Gols, such as Gabarinza and Salzberg, with sandy loamy soils and plenty of sunshine.

To see which wines are available at LCBO stores, click HERE.