Weingut Stadt Krems is in a class by itself: the enterprise is owned by a municipality. On the one hand, this implies an obligation to provide a model for all the vineyards in the region. On the other hand, the enterprise is subject to all the plans of the municipal administration. This position makes managing a vineyard especially challenging. Historically, Weingut Stadt Krems arose from two sources. The first source is the property of the Burgerspitalstiftung. In 1210, Duke Leopold IV of Babenberg founded a publicē hospital in Krems and left important legacies to it, including vineyards. The second source was the generous bequest of the imperial Burggrave of Krems, Ulrich von Dachsberg, who presented the town with vineyards in 1452.
With over 550 years of history, Weingut Stadt Krems is one of the oldest wine- producers in Austria, and even in the whole of Europe. Until 1744, the Town Hall in the historical centre of the city, which is over a thousand years old, accommodated the press house and the maturing cellar. They were then relocated to the cellar in the ” Corporis Christi Brotherhood”. In 1915 , the city acquired a wine cellar in the town moat. The estate wines of the city have been presse3d there ever since. No wines or grapes have ever been bought from outside vineyards. Weingut Stadt Krems is a member of the association ”Traditionsweinguter Osterreich” (Traditional Vineyards of Austri), a group devoted to the preservation of venerable and historical vineyards. All the vineyards of Weingut Stadt Krems (30 hectares) are within the Krems city limits. Fritz Miesbauer (General Manager), Leipold Figl (Cellar Manager) and Kathrin Brundlmayer (management assistant) have been managing Weingut Stadt Krems since July 1, 2003.
HISTORY OF ”KREMS AND WINE”
On August 16 of the year 995, Otto III signed a barter agreement in Magdeburg citing an estate of the Bishop of Freising near ”Urbs Chremisa”. This is the oldest preserved document to mention Krems. The location referred to in the document was situated on a hill looking over the Krems River northeast of the old city centre as we know it today. The city spread out from there. Many historical buildings from various epochs, churches and stately town houses attest to the city’s long history and pride in its past.
Krem’s wealth always been its viticulture. The charter granting city rights to Krems (1305) states that ” the honour of the city lies chiefly in its vineyards.” No wonder, then that more 50 monasteries and convents in German- speaking countries owned vineyards here in the ideal climate of this town located at the banks of the Danube River . The Weinzierler (local dialect for vintners, winegrowers) cultivate the monastery vineyards and then vinify the grapes at the magnificent ” Lesehofe” (vintage farms). Tyhe wine is then shipped up the Danube to the monasteries, where it was not only used by the monks as their daily altar wine but also furthered the international reputation of Krems as a flourishing wine capital. Today, the 1,000 hectares of vineyards belonging to the city of Krems (with a population of 25,000) are cultivated by hundreds of small wine- growing estates. With the development of industry and service providers, wine is no longer the city’s main source of income, but its ” crowning glory” is still the reputation and quality of Krems wines.
