Slate soils, steep slopes and manual labour; in Kitzeck, a village at 564 meters above sea level in the Sausal region of southern Styria, lies the Schauer winery, a family business rich in tradition - its roots go back to 1757 - with outstanding vineyards, a sustainable philosophy and wines full of elegance and finesse. Today, the reins are held by the brothers Stefan and Bernhard Schauer. Both are passionate winemakers and run the business side by side.
The winery owns traditional and particularly favoured vineyards, which can only be cultivated in a very labour-intensive way due to their impressive slope. Manual labour is the be-all and end-all, but guarantees meticulous selection and the very best quality of the harvested grapes.
The Sausal differs geologically from the rest of southern Styria. Here the slate sets the tone. The steep slopes, some of which have dizzying gradients, were formed 300 million years ago in the Paleozoic era, and their soils consist of phyllitic slate. At that time, southern Styria, which surrounds the Sausal, lay under a primordial sea from which the Sausal protruded like an island. Therefore, there are no calcareous marine deposits here, but clay schists, sericite quartzites, green schists, red and blue-black schists, as well as scatters of potassium feldspar. Only occasionally are limestone deposits found at lower altitudes. You can taste the slate in the Schauers' wines; it is the smoky, mineral and savoury notes that indicate this type of soil.
