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The winegrower Alois Höllerer from Engabrunn in Kamptal is the spokesman for a previously anonymous group of winegrowers who want to take legal action against the planned classification in Austria. This puts an end to months of guesswork about the people behind the gluecklichelage.at website.
Alois Höllerer has been running the 23-hectare winery since 2010, before which he completed a degree in business administration. His wife Nicole completed an apprenticeship in tourism and hotel management as well as a part-time degree in public communication. His mother Anna Höllerer has extensive political experience as a former member of parliament and member of the Federal Council for the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP).
Since last autumn, the website gluecklichelage.at has been campaigning against the possibility of classifying vineyards as "Erste" and "Große" sites in Austria. The arguments against this are that some winegrowers' associations - meaning the Österreichische Traditionsweingüter ÖTW and the Steirische Terroir- und Klassikweingüter STK - want to have their vineyards upgraded by lobbying the winegrowing policy. This process is not democratically transparent and leads to the financial revaluation of classified sites and thus to the "shifting of assets totalling several hundred million euros".
gluecklichelage.at received support from Matthias Siess, Chairman of the Burgenland Regional Wine Committee, who has since resigned and who categorically ruled out classification for his province. The legal framework for site classifications was created last year. In order to have a site classified, the applicant must submit details such as historical significance, homogeneity in terms of soil, geology, climate and exposure, marketing volume and value of the single vineyards as well as national and international wine ratings to the responsible Ministry of Agriculture.
(al / source: gluecklichelage.at; Weingut Alois Höllerer)