Supplier Spotlight Schneckenleitner

maria9750
7 days ago
3 min read

With Spring in the air and Schneckenleitner cask and puncheon orders being fulfilled and planned in Austria, the Bouchard Cooperages team wanted to take the time to highlight the special relationship between the Schneckenleitner family and their largest of client's: Schloss Gobelsburg from Austria's Kamptal region. For any producers still interested in casks and puncheons (500L - 800L) it is not too late to add any orders in our containers or choose from the current stock options of 500L puncheons that we currently have in our US warehouse.

Fassbinderei Schneckenleitner

Family owned and operated since 1880, the Schneckenleitner family has been manufacturing Austrian oak and Acacia puncheons, casks and conicals for five generations. Nestled along the Ybbs river in Waidhofen an der Ybbs, the new state of the art cooperage, stave mill and wood maturation park was inaugurated in 2022 allowing for the Schneckenleitner's activity to all live in one spot and be 100% vertically integrated.

Austrian Puncheons, Casks & Conicals

Schneckenleitner's claim to fame are their casks and upright conicals which they produce 180 units per year and can be found in the most prestigious of cellars throughout Europe, North America and the world. However, their 100% Austrian Oak lightly toasted puncheons which range between 500L - 800L have become extremely popular for those wishing to get a taste for tight grain Austrian oak and how it can compliment their wines.

The Schneckenleitner brothers

Paul Schneckenleitner, the eldest of the three brothers serves as the company’s CEO and manages daily operations. Prior to taking over the reigns of his family cooperage, Paul gained valuable experience working in premium cooperages in Burgundy and Cognac. His two brothers, Peter and Herbert oversee stave production and toasting to ensure the cooperage maintains its high standards of quality.

Schloss Gobelsburg

Represents the oldest wine estate in Austria's Kamptal wine region and has been making wine since the 12th century. The estate consists of over 80 hectares of vineyards split between 50% Grüner Veltliner, and 25% Riesling which are used for still and sparkling wines. Reds make up the rest between Zweigelt, Pinot Noir, St. Laurent and Merlot. The estate produces just under 1 million bottles a year and in 2021 finished it's brand new cellar for it's 850 years!

Burgundian Cistercian monk influence

The roots of the estate date back to 1171 where the same Cistercian monks that planted pinot noir and chardonnay in Burgundy arrived and planted the first vineyards. In 1996, Eva and Michael Moosbrugger acquired the estate leading to vineyard and cellar renovations. It's vineyard holdings are split between regional wines, village wines and individual selections that include it's most premium wines from Ried Heiligenstein and Ride Lamm.

Focus on Riesling and Gruner Veltliner

Austria's Kamptal region is most famous for the quality of it's white wines and the estate's holdings in Heiligenstein (Riesling parcels) and Lamm (Grüner Veltliner parcels) represent Schloss Gobelsburg's claim to fame. All vineyards are harvested by hand, rigorously sorted and then fermented spontaneously with indigenous yeasts in a variety of 73 different Schneckenleitner casks which range between 27 and 55 hL.

Usage of Schneckenleitner at Schloss Gobelsburg

The partnership between both companies started in 1996 between Paul Schneckenleitner's father and Michael Moosbrugger of Schloss Gobelsburg. Unique to the partnership is that local tight grain Austrian oak from the Manhartsberg forest located next to the estate is milled and used for the production of their casks. Casks are toasted with a proprietary toast between Light Long and Medium. Per Schloss Gobelsburg's request, casks are equipped with stands on wheels so that they can be easily transported outside of the winery during the winter for natural cold stabilization. Whites are fermented in oak and the single vineyards see 18 months of aging while regional and village wines see only 12 months.

Numbers at a glance

73x 27 - 55 HL Casks

80% for fermenting and aging Riseling and Gruner Veltliner & 20% for aging reds

4x 35 HL Upright Conicals

Fermentation and aging of reds: Pinot Noir, Merlot, Zweigelt and St. Laurent

160x 600L Demi-Muids

10% for fermenting and aging whites and 90% for aging reds