Looking for new ways

To whom more wine should now be poured

In 1986, VOG bought the Lenz Moser winery from the insolvency estate, which bottles around ten million bottles a year, as Andreas Pirschl (pictured) reveals.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Weinkellerei Lenz Moser (2), VOG AG)

The per capita consumption of wine in Austria is declining, competition in the food trade is increasing because other winegrowers have also discovered supermarkets as a sales channel - these are two of the reasons why the Lenz Moser winery and owner VOG are reacting. Read here to find out who they want to pour more wine for.

VOG's headquarters in Linz and the Lenz Moser winery in Rohrendorf in Lower Austria are 90 minutes apart by car, yet they are much closer than you might think. The import wholesaler from Upper Austria has owned the traditional business, which is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year, since 1986. "Since then, we have already invested around 100 million euros," says VOG CEO Andreas Pirschl. The money went into a new press house and tanks.

Two wineries with 74 hectares of vineyards
Lenz Moser owns two wineries: that of the Order of the Knights of Malta in Mailberg with 50 hectares of vineyards near the Czech border and Klosterkeller Siegendorf on the border with Hungary with 24 hectares. "We also have 150 winegrowing families in Rohrendorf who have been supplying us with grapes for generations," says Pirschl.

Master cellarer Michael Rethaller is responsible for the quality of the wines and also for 72 employees.(Bild: Weinkellerei Lenz Moser)

Michael Rethaller is in charge of the winery, where he and his team ensure consistently high quality, which is a challenge given the quantities involved. Last year, Lenz Moser sold ten million bottles of wine. Not a single grape of foreign wine is processed, emphasizes Pirschl: "There is no exception."

Trend towards non-alcoholic beverages and increased health awareness
In order to continue the success of recent years, it is necessary to roll up one's sleeves. Other winegrowers are increasingly discovering the food trade as a sales channel for themselves, and competition is increasing. At the same time, per capita consumption in Austria is declining - this is due to increased health awareness and the trend towards the consumption of non-alcoholic beverages. Now it is time to move forward.

Qatar Airways recently ordered 10,000 bottles of Trockenbeerenauslese. The company now wants to score more points with airlines.(Bild: AP/Michael Probst)

On the one hand, Lenz Moser wants to score points with the younger target group with lighter wines. The company is also launching an export offensive. "We want to go out into the wide world," says Pirschl. The wine fair in New York was used as a promotional platform, the company is working with a new sales partner in Brazil and a Chinese delegation recently visited the winery.

New customer: Qatar Airways
10,000 bottles of Prestige Trockenbeerenauslese were delivered for Qatar Airways. But Pirschl is under no illusions: "There is basically overcapacity worldwide." This is even leading to grubbing up in France, he explains.