he tradition of wine-growing in our family can be traced back to 1823. According to the ‘Franziszeischen Fassion’ Franz Leopold (the elder) was a wine-grower. It is therefore to be assumed that at least since 1818, when Franz Leopold came to Schönberg-Neustift, the family Leopold earned their living by growing wine. However, his ancestors in Stiefern had most likely been wine-growers too.
In 1919 Franz Leopold (the younger) possessed a small vinery in Neustift. He owned 18 quarter-yokes of farmland, 8 quarter-yokes of vineyards, 1 quarter-yoke of meadows and forest. Furthermore, chickens, pigs and oxen.
In 1933 Dominikus Leopold sen. took over the small vinery from his father, Franz Leopold (the younger). He sold wine in casks to the landlords who collected the wooden casks themselves from the cellar.
In the years 1938-40, the Leopold estate comprised a property of 5.5 hectares, 3 hectares of these were farmland, 1.77 hectares vineyards and 55 ares meadows. The estate also included some pastures and a small garden. At that time the family planted rye, wheat, barley, oats, maize, potatoes and turnips. Dominikus Leopold sen. owned approximately 40 fruit-trees and of course also some cattle. He ran the estate until 1960 and increased the vineyard surface to 3.7 hectares.
Vintage in the year 1943
Vintage today
In 1960 Dominikus Leopold jun. took over the estate and began to bottle wine. Together with his father he enlarged the cellar vaults and a small vinotheque came into being. Since then it has grown in size, with 40 bottles à 0,7 l being added each year - usually Riesling and Grüner Veltliner.
In 1963 the vineyards to a large extent had already changed to the high training system, but there were still a few plantations with stake or medium high training system.
The following grape varieties were cultivated – Grüner Veltliner, Müller Thurgau, Welschriesling, Riesling and Neuburger. At that time there were still cows, pigs and chickens at the Leopold estate.
In 1972 Dominikus Leopold jun. bought the neighbouring cellar which had belonged to Ernst Krammer. A large residential and cellar building was built covering both plots, with the address Schönberg-Neustift n° 30. Due to this new building we gained a beautiful second cellar – the current bottle cellar.
Dominikus Leopold jun. enlarged the vineyard surface to 10 hectares. 50 % of the wine were sold to landlords and private customers most of them collecting the wine themselves from the cellar. He also planted diverse grape varieties, hereby enlarging the varietal diversity which is highly appreciated by our customers.
In 1993, the last part of the cellar was built. On the southern neighbouring plot a large hall was built where all the machines and appliances can be found. The “old” part has been rearranged as presentation room and is exclusively used for wine presentations.
On 1st june 1996 Stephan Leopold took over the vinery when his father retired. Together with his wife Karin he enlarged their vineyards to 21 hectares and since then has been modernizing the vinery with a lot of elan and vigour.