On New Year’s Eve, the new year is toasted with sparkling wine or Prosecco. More and more often, however, it can also be sparkling wine from Upper Austria – such as that from Traunsecco from Thalheim.
The former Würzburger brick factory in Thalheim: where the drying chambers were in operation until 1975, Andreas and Eva Hauser have long since set up their Traunsecco wine cellar. “The cold and damp hall is ideal,” says the 47-year-old, who wears a sweater and a shirt under his jacket at the appointment with the “crown” and also a cap. No wonder! Despite the plus temperatures outside, there is little to be noticed in the premises of the sparkling wine brand… Hauser got a taste for Irish pear and apple sparkling wine during a holiday in Ireland. At the Cider & Perry Academy in England, he then learned the craft and many production tricks from cider guru Peter Mitchell. “In 2018 we really took off,” says Hauser, who is self-employed and earns his money with the workwear company Harryson. The production of Traunsecco sparkling wines is a hobby that he shares with his wife Eva, an expert in organic gardening. “She’s the technician and master enveloper,” he enthuses. The couple obtains apples and pears from old meadow orchards from 18 partner companies, which are then gently pressed using a specially developed process. The juices are then blended with champagne yeasts and fermented in tanks before aging in wooden whiskey and rum casks for six months or more. “This is where the sparkling wines are given the finishing touch,” says Hauser, whose Traunsecco varieties are christened “Wüdsau”, “Speckbirn” or “Herzbluat”. sparkling on New Year’s Eve. For example, at Bioobstbau Peterseil in Luftenberg, an organic frizzante is made from apples or pears, or at Nussböckgut in Leonding, the so-called “Velsecco” is made from Concordia grapes. Predicate: absolutely dry.
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