Michael Wenzel | Furmint & Low Intervention Wines from Rust

Once you realise that Earth and heart have the same letters it all starts to make sense

A healthy natural environment keeps us alive. We work in such a way that it can continue to do so tomorrow.

The Art of Simple

Low intervention – as little as possible, as much as necessary.

Find your wild

Water, light and wind shape the vineyards around Rust – an origin you can recognize in the glass.

Reed belt on Lake Neusiedl with calm water

It feels good to be lost in the right direction

Every harvest, every vintage is a new attempt – always with the ambition of getting even better.

Reeds on Lake Neusiedl backlit by the evening sun

Our winery is located in Rust in Burgenland, directly on the western shore of Lake Neusiedl. For twelve generations, Michael's family has been dedicated to viticulture here – with respect for nature, a passion for the craft, and the courage to break new ground. Organically farmed, spontaneously fermented, unfiltered, and minimally sulfured: this is how our wines tell the story of their origin.

Low Intervention

NEW WINES FROM 12 NOVEMBER

Low Intervention

More work in the vineyard. Less intervention in the cellar.

Wild carrot and flowers in the vineyard's cover crops

Furmint

An autochthonous grape variety, deeply rooted in the culture, climate, and geology of the Pannonian region.

Origin

Our vineyards rise gently from the lake’s reed belt, like the tiers of an amphitheater. The soil holds limestone from the primordial sea, slate, and quartz, topped by abundant light and almost constant wind. Storks, herons, and bee-eaters live here with us. This landscape is our foundation—it is what you taste in the glass.

Lake Neusiedl

Burgenland & Lake Neusiedl

Plenty of sun, wind, and hot summers

Nature as a reflection

Observe, learn, and enjoy

Terroir

Flora and fauna, vineyard sites

In the vineyard

We plant Furmint densely, up to 8,000 vines per hectare, each one planted by hand. The harvest is also done by hand. What grows in the vineyard with such care needs little help in the cellar: the wine ferments spontaneously and is given time. This is how our complex and elegant wines are created.

Furmint

Journal

All articles

Living soil in the vineyard with dry cover crops in the evening light

Healthy soil: the basis of life and a source of nutrients

An invisible ecosystem is at work beneath every vine. Why healthy soil is the foundation of good wine, what harms it and what we do for it in Rust.

Hands at the hand harvest with secateurs and a grape bunch, black and white

Low Intervention: Why we do as little as possible in the cellar

Nothing added, nothing taken away. What low intervention means to us, why it begins in the vineyard, and why it means more work, not less.

Reed belt on the western shore of Lake Neusiedl

How Lake Neusiedl shapes our wines

It stores heat, reflects light, brings the wind, and in autumn, the fog. Why Lake Neusiedl is much more than just a beautiful view for our vineyard...

Young head-trained vines on wooden stakes, with flowering cover crops in between

Head-trained vines and old vines: Why you can taste patience

Every vine stands on its own, by a wooden stake, without wires and without a tractor. Why we in Rust are returning to the oldest form of viticultur...

Once you realise that Earth and heart have the same letters it all starts to make sense

The Art of Simple

Find your wild