Making sense of the wines of Markus Sonntag, giving them their proper context, is no easy task.
Markus is not really a winemaker, at least in any traditional way. He has, as it turns out, a day job in Vienna as a computer scientist – a fascinating juxtaposition to the fact that he’s a passionate musician – a trombonist – and something of an avant-garde farmer. Markus has tended his family’s two hectares of vines for over a quarter of a century, working organically, experimenting with trees and permaculture, in general treating the land more like a garden than a vineyard.
The farming here is the fascination.
It’s the business of bottling wine, and trying to sell it, that is less interesting to him. “Sonntag Geschlossen,” the name of the winery-project, translates to “closed on Sundays,” an insider’s joke as to how business is done here. (The answer rarely; business is done here rarely).
And so the wines rest in massive ancient barrels, sometimes for a few years, sometimes well beyond (a current release spent 7,492 days in barrel – do the math). Sometimes the wines are refreshed with lees and wines from a new(er) vintages, until the space is needed or someone can convince Markus to barrel, or two.
The wines, after the magic of time, speak of an older Austria, a more rustic and subtle Austrian wine – they are saline and floral, mineral and stony. They are haunting beauties, literally, from another time.
In the Austrian world of wine, the only bottles that have any commonalities, at least in terms of production, are the revered and mystical “Vinothek” bottlings of Nikolaihof – wines that, we might add, command prices of $150-$200+ a bottle.
These are, comparatively, absolutely inane deals.
We have notes on all the current released wines below. Email us at orders@vomboden.com and we’ll do our best to connect you with a local wine shop that can source these.
Schmalisse Rosé MV ~$26
This is a blend of the 2022 and 2023 vintages of a “Gemischter Satz” – a field blend – which includes Portugieser, Zweigelt and more.
In any vintage, only about 500 liters of this wine are made. By blending the vintages, Sonntag creates a more complex harmony and balance. This is more than just a rosé; in some ways it feels like an ultra-light red, ready to slide up next to a roast chicken. What does the wine taste like? Sweet perfumed red fruit – strawberry, cherry fruit – with some spice and herbal notes and a great, fine thread of saline minerality extending the wine and giving it great length. It’s 12.5% but it feels so light and airy.
This feels like Austria meets the Savoie. This is great.
Grüner Veltliner ‘Hintaus’ 2019 ~$28
The “Hinthaus,” sourced from a parcel close to the house, ages only in stainless steal and is bottled “young” – though everything is relative in the universe of Markus Sonntag: This wine saw nearly five years in tank. While the 2016 vintage was a bit more ripe and round, this has a straighter, more focused profile with a great energy and finessed delineation. In a way, this is the most traditionally presenting Grüner of the group, with delicate, airy citrus and white pepper notes.
Grüner Veltliner ‘Schwimbad’ MV ~$30
This is a Grüner sourced from various barrels throughout the cellar: Grüners from harvests 2002 to 2010 and intentionally left untopped. Some would call this a “cuvée perpétuelle” but Markus chooses to simply call it “Swimming Pool.” All of these wines were in barrel until 2016 when the blend was composed in a stainless steel tank and left there until this second edition was bottled in May 2024. At 11.5% this is the lightest of the wines and like the 2012 it has a certain seamless feel, an integration that only comes with age. This is delicately oxidative, with seabreeze and marine notes, salty with lots of dried herbs and complex fruit, bruised apple and plenty of minerals. This is superb, a Grüner with delineation and finesse and still tons of lift.
Grüner Veltliner Zusammen – Ausgabe Eins 2011-2015 ~$38
This is a unique wine, even within the curious oeuvre of Markus Sonntag: “Zusammen Ausgabe Eins” translates to “Blended Edition 1.”
This is the first edition of a bottling of all of the released vintages of Sonntag Geschlossen from 2011 until 2015. This is just a fabulous wine, layered and luxurious, while being clear and harmonious as well. The richer vintages like 2012 and 2015 give the wine a soft melon fruit, a certain lavish quality, while the leaner vintages (like 2014, which makes up some 40% of the blend) provide a firm and gripping acid.
This is a great introduction to this unusual and deeply unique project.
There is just no way to reproduce the effects of such extended barrel aging. And there are few precedents for this kind of wine, for this extended an élevage.
Grüner Veltliner 2015 ~$38
Please note that there are two unique bottlings of the 2015 Grüner Veltliner: One edition was bottled after 2,576 days (around seven years) and another, released in 2024, after 3,140 days (nearly nine years).
The first release is more fresh and direct. This is Grüner at its most perfumed, sweet apples and pears, nearly caramelized while also mineral. From a generous and warmer year, the wine strikes a balance between maturity, development, freshness and finesse—there is an interplay of both oxidation and reduction that gives depth, texture and complexity.
The second release from late in 2024 is much more complex; if shows less fruit and is more herbal and airy, more mineral and floral. Though the wine is very fresh with lovely rushing acids, one does taste and feel the warm plushness of the vintage. Superb.
Grüner Veltliner 2003 ~$42
This wine, one of Markus’ first ever, spent well over twenty years – 7,492 days, to be exact – in an old, 800 liter barrel, in a cold cellar in Austria, not terribly far from the Czech border.
This 2003 Grüner Veltliner is one of the most unusual wines Markus has ever made. Markus chose to ferment this vintage with whole bunches on the skins for four weeks. While the plan, initially, was probably not to keep it in the cellar for 20 years, here we are. This is the first time this wine has been bottled.
It is an extraordinary wine with a glowing, amber hue. At only 11% alcohol, the wine is lithe and direct, with very fine, yet sturdy, tannins; even at 20 years this wine has grip and structure. On the nose the wine is subterranean; one certainly gets a sense of the barrel this wine spent its life in, overlaid with spiced dried fruit, citrus skin, dried flowers. This is a subtle wine, still very mineral and youthful; aside from the color, it would be hard to guess that this wine is over 20 years old.
Only a thousand bottles, and of course there will never be another wine like this again.
