Weingut Frank

For ten whole generations, the Frank family has lived and made wine in the charming, northeastern town of Herrnbaumgarten. Planted on gentle slopes above the village, the vines of Harald and Daniela Frank span 23 hillside hectares in one of Austria’s coolest, driest zones. Fortuitously, the vineyards of Weingut Frank also enjoy a bit of extra altitude, which helps maintain the family’s dedication to clean, precise whites and extreme typicity. Plantings range from 180 to 320m, providing cooler nights and often extending the growing season into October. Depending upon the varietal, this elevation really matters. Remarkably, even here in Austria’s far north, there’s a 0.7 degree C difference in median temperature, from the bottom of their hill to the top!

Priding themselves on tradition, Weingut Frank’s production revolves around Grüner Veltliner - a cross between Traminer and St. Georgen and the country’s most telltale varietal. While omnipresent throughout Austria, its spiritual home remains Niederösterreich, to the northeast. (This is where Herrnbaumgarten is located, within the Weinvertal DAC and just 15 minutes south of the Czech Republic.) A prolific varietal, Gruner’s clusters and berries both tend to be large, so vines need to be monitored constantly. To prevent an overly sweet style, it’s all about extra altitude, sharp-eyed harvests, and lower yields. Soil makes a big difference, too. Ideal is ‘loess’ - windblown sediment dating back to the Ice Ages - which the Frank’s vines enjoy in spades higher up on the hill. In the Weinvertal DAC, Gruner has the nickname pfefferl, which translates to "little peppery one", exhibiting the light, spicy notes that derive from loess and help define the region.