From the Order's commandery to a pioneer of Austrian red wine
The history of this winery does not begin in the 20th century, but in the Middle Ages: the Mailberg commandery is considered the oldest property of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The place was documented as early as 1055, and since 1146, the Order of St. John — the later Sovereign Military Order of Malta — managed the estate in the northern Weinviertel. The Order's motto Optimus quisque — "Simply the best" — has accompanied the winery for around 900 years and remains the benchmark for work in the vineyard and cellar to this day.
The castle winery took the step into modernity in 1969, when the Lenz Moser winery from Rohrendorf near Krems took over management and replanted the vineyards. Blauer Zweigelt and Merlot were added in 1973, and in 1982, the first Cabernet Sauvignon in all of Lower Austria was planted in Mailberg. As early as 1978, the estate was the first winery in Austria to age red wines in barriques — a milestone that helped trigger the Austrian red wine revolution.
Basin location, limestone soils, and the Lenz Moser high-culture system
The Mailberg Valley is a basin location about 70 kilometers northwest of Vienna, near the Czech border, at 217 meters above sea level. The continental climate brings around 1,800 hours of sunshine a year with an average of 450 mm of precipitation — just enough to challenge the vines, but not to stress them. The calcareous soils with loamy sands and loess components store water and promote even ripening as well as a fine-grained, precise acid structure.
All 50 hectares of vineyard area are distributed over twelve named individual sites: Antlasberg, Blickenberg, Hochlüssen, Hofbreite, Hundschupfen, Janning, Rosenpoint, Rumpling, Schafflerhof, Vösenau, Zeiselberg, and Zuckerschlee. All vineyards are trained according to the Lenz Moser high-culture system — a training system that is deliberately geared toward yield stability and harvest quality. The oldest plantings date back to the founding year 1970 and provide grapes with significantly more depth than younger plots.
Clear portfolio, numbered bottles, limited bottlings
Grüner Veltliner and Blauer Zweigelt form the heart of the portfolio — around 20 hectares are dedicated to Veltliner, 12 to Zweigelt. In addition, there are Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Blauer Burgunder, and Sauvignon Blanc. In the Mailberg basin, the Grüner Veltliner develops its characteristic "Pfefferl" (peppery note) with clear fruit and mineral backbone. The Brut sparkling wine is created as a cuvée of Grüner Veltliner, Chardonnay, and Blauer Burgunder. The flagship of the house is the "Kommende Mailberg" — a cuvée of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot that ages for 15 months in new Allier oak barrels and is only bottled in strong vintages. Every bottle from the castle winery bears an individual number — the bottling quantities remain deliberately limited.
