Winemaker After Acquittal

“If I’d been convicted, I would have killed myself”

Christian Reiterer on the terrace of his winery in southwestern Styria(Bild: Heinz Stephan Tesarek)

A well-known Styrian winemaker spent ten months in pretrial detention, facing strong suspicion of murdering a wealthy widow from Lower Austria. At his trial, he was ultimately acquitted. Now he speaks to the “Krone.” 

The landscape looks almost as if a painter had sketched it—with its almost kitschy beauty. With the rolling hills and the lush greenery. Here, in this idyllic setting in Wies, in southwestern Styria, Christian Reiterer now stands on the porch of his winery, looking out at the vineyards before him and saying quietly, “I love nature; I missed it so much during that dreadful time.”