Vienna, 11 December 2024
'>
And again, killing champagne
Ebner-Ebenauer are once again making the wine world sit up and take notice. With their impressive sparkling wines, they are dancing on the national and international stages of the wine world and celebrating ‘Austria's finest fizz’ Cuvée Courage.
Vienna, 11 December 2024
Marion and Manfred Ebner-Ebenauer wanted to make the best Grüner Veltliner from vineyards with ancient vines when they started their winery in Poysdorf in the Weinviertel in 2007. At the time, they would never have dared to dream that they would one day create a class of their own with outstanding sparkling wines. However, they did have a vision of a big hit on an international scale. The start was marked in 2006 with their first sparkling base wine. However, it would be several years before their first ‘natural beauty’, as Marion Ebner-Ebenauer affectionately calls her now four large Zero Dosages, was realised. With long yeast storage, careful manual labour and ripe grapes from the best and organically certified vineyards, they finally created masterpieces that earned top ratings from Robert Parker and awards such as ‘Sparkling Wine of the Year’ in Austria and Germany. Their Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs gained worldwide recognition over the years before Ebner-Ebenauer's 2023 Cuvée Courage once again set new standards. The vintage cuvée from 2007, 2008 and 2009 was recently named ‘Masterpiece’ by Gault&Millau Austria as ‘Sparkling Wine of the Year 2025’. It was awarded an impressive 95 points by Robert Parker and the winemaker couple were described as ‘the bubble king and queen’. In the Guide A la Carte 2025, the Cuvée Courage was awarded 97 points as the best sparkling wine in Austria and the best wine in the Weinviertel region overall. The new editions of the Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs are now being launched with the 2016 vintage. Each is made from 100 per cent Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, aged on the lees for seven years, naturally with zero dosage and with great originality and finesse. Available now in limited quantities throughout Austria from Wein & Co and Morandell as well as from the winery.
Cuvée Courage Zero Dosage. According to Manfred Ebner-Ebenauer, this great sparkling wine is a bold and unique experiment, hence the name. At the time, it was not really known how harmoniously the three vintages 2007, 2008 and 2009 would unite in the bottle and how many years of ageing on the lees would be necessary to make the wine to perfection. It also took a lot of intuition and sensitivity to find the perfect time for disgorging. After sixteen years of gestation, fourteen years of ageing on the lees and maturation in used 500-litre wooden barrels, the Ebner-Ebenauers finally bottled the base wine in 2010 for second fermentation, where they left it until 2023, shaking it by hand and bringing it to market in limited quantities. The winegrowing couple have no plans to re-release this special zero dosage.
A sparkling look back. When Marion and Manfred Ebner-Ebenauer took over the winery in 2007, they were already working on a sparkling base wine. The highly calcareous soils and cool climate seemed to be perfect for great sparkling wines. Every year a new batch was added, with long yeast ageing, manual labour and grapes from the best individual vineyards. In 2013, they presented their first Blanc des Blancs vintage 2006 as Zero Dosage, which made the Austrian wine world sit up and take notice thanks to its outstanding quality and exclusive design. Gault&Millau called it ‘State of the Art’. International recognition followed for the 2008 vintage, which Robert Parker honoured with 94 points and ‘Ebner-Ebenauer's Blanc de Blancs is killing Champagne’, the Wine Enthusiast with 95 points, and which the great Jancis Robinson named ‘Best Austrian Fizz’. A Zero Dosage of Ebner-Ebenauer was named ‘Sparkling Wine of the Year’ several times by Gault&Millau until 2024, when the Cuvée Courage once again drew international attention to the Poysdorf winery with groundbreaking awards. A milestone for the Austrian wine world as a whole.
The Ebner-Ebenauer winery. In 2007, Marion and Manfred Ebner-Ebenauer took over their now eighteen-hectare vineyard in Poysdorf in the northern Weinviertel region of Lower Austria. The small vineyards with their ancient, gnarled vines are widely scattered around the wine town. It has therefore always been a matter of course to work exclusively by hand, as well as spontaneous fermentation and plenty of maturing time in the cellar. Their most important and expressive vineyards are Hermannschachern, Bürsting, Sauberg and Alte Geringen, planted with Grüner Veltliner, Burgundy, St. Laurent, Riesling and the grape varieties for the outstanding vintage sparkling wines. The winery has been organically farmed since 2016. In 2022, Manfred and Marion Ebner-Ebenauer were named Falstaff's first ‘Winemaker Couple of the Year’. In 2023, they joined the respekt-BIODYN winegrowers' group.
Attached printable photos © see caption, reprint free of charge if mentioned. Thank you for your coverage and, if applicable, for a pdf of your article.
Further enquiry
Sylvia Petz | Agency for organised enjoyment
Gumpendorfer Strasse 16/8, 1060 Vienna, sylvia-petz.at
Email: sp@sylvia-petz.at, Tel. +43 699 1100 8040
