A South-Facing Göttlesbrunn Erste Lage Under Deep Danube Gravel

Rosenberg

Rosenberg rises above the village of Göttlesbrunn in Carnuntum, on the warm right bank of the Danube east of Vienna. It is a red-wine site, and its standing rests on a particular pairing of southern exposure and a thick gravel cap over older marine sediments that suits the region's dark varieties.

Classification

Rosenberg is a classified Erste Lage, carrying the 1ÖTW mark of the Österreichische Traditionsweingüter. The Carnuntum members introduced their Erste Lage tier with the 2017 vintage, following a mapping of the region's Rieds that drew on geological survey work begun in 2008. No Carnuntum site has yet been raised to Grosse Lage, so Erste Lage currently stands as the region's top classified rank, and Rosenberg is among the Göttlesbrunn sites that hold it.

Soils and Aspect

The Markowitsch estate documents Rosenberg at roughly 15 hectares, lying between about 220 and 260 meters, with a south-facing aspect. Its defining feature is soil structure rather than gradient. A topsoil of Danube gravels some 30 to 40 centimeters deep sits over a subsoil of primordial-sea sediments made up of clay, limestone and various sands. That profile changes along the slope: the upper section is leaner and more gravelly, while farther downhill the soil deepens and carries more clay. This vertical variation, rather than a single uniform terroir, is what growers plant to.

Grapes and Producers

Because the ground shifts with elevation, so does what is planted on it. On the meagre, gravelly upper slope the estate grows Merlot and Blaufränkisch; on the deeper, clay-richer ground below, Zweigelt performs best. Gerhard Markowitsch of Göttlesbrunn bottles a Ried Rosenberg 1ÖTW built around roughly 55 percent Zweigelt with Merlot and Blaufränkisch, a wine the estate presents as one of Carnuntum's classic reds. Walter Glatzer, also based in Göttlesbrunn, farms the site organically and bottles his own Rosenberg 1ÖTW from Blaufränkisch, Merlot and Zweigelt, raised for about sixteen months in French barrique, roughly half of it new. Both are dry reds released under the Carnuntum DAC.

This comprehensive guide is part of the WineSaint Wine Region Guide collection. Last updated: September 2026.