Summary
Weingut Polz on the Grassnitzberg near Spielfeld is one of the best-known addresses in South Styria (Südsteiermark). For decades it traded as 'Erich & Walter Polz' and stood for the rise of the whole region: away from simple tavern wine, towards dry, precise white wines with a clear sense of place. Around 80 hectares are planted today, above all with Sauvignon Blanc and Morillon – the Styrian name for Chardonnay – plus Welschriesling and Gelber Muskateller. Erich Polz Jr. has led the estate since 2020, with his brother Christoph in charge of the cellar. That same restructuring also produced a second, much smaller operation: Weingut Walter Polz on the Hochgrassnitzberg.
History
The Polz family has farmed the estate on the Grassnitzberg since 1912. It only became a name beyond the region in the 1980s, however, when the brothers Erich and Walter Polz took over. They belonged to the generation of Styrian growers who dared to break with established practice: instead of bulk volume and sweetish bottlings, consistently dry, cleanly vinified varietal wines. That shift turned South Styria into one of Austria's most sought-after white wine regions within a few years – and Polz into one of its flagships.
Over the decades a web of companies grew up around the winery, with stakes in other estates and in hospitality and trading ventures. In 2020 that structure was dissolved as part of the succession plan: the brothers' shares first went to an outside investor, and shortly afterwards the family bought back the core – the estate with its defining vineyards and the Buschenschank tavern. Other parts, including the hotel on the Pössnitzberg, plots near Leutschach and the Vinofaktur in Vogau, stayed outside. The vineyard area shrank from well over 100 hectares to around 80. Erich Polz Jr. took charge, with his brother Christoph Polz as cellar master.
Weingut Polz and Weingut Walter Polz
Worth knowing when you stand in front of the shelf: two independent estates emerged from the former joint business. Weingut Polz is the large family operation on the Grassnitzberg. Weingut Walter Polz is a distinctly smaller, separate estate based on the Hochgrassnitzberg; by its own account it farms around six hectares of Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay and only bottles its wines after roughly two years of ageing. Both work with wines from the same famous hills, but they are financially separate.
Location & Terroir
South Styria is a region of steep slopes: vineyards with gradients of 40 percent and more are common here, which makes hand work the rule rather than the exception. The Grassnitzberg lies in the south of the region, only a few kilometres from the Slovenian border.
In climatic terms, warm, humid air from the south meets cool influences from the Alps. The result is hot days and markedly cooler nights – exactly the spread that gives Styrian whites their taut acidity and pronounced aromatics. Soils change over short distances between sand, sandstone, marl (known locally as Opok) and limestone-rich patches. The Hochgrassnitzberg is known for its limestone content, which lends the wines drive and a saline edge, while sandier parcels tend to give more fruit-driven, approachable wines.
Style & Philosophy
The house style is clearly geared towards origin and drinkability. The wines are consistently dry, the harvest is done by hand, and the range follows a pyramid: regional wines as a fresh, varietally typical base, village wines with a tighter origin, and single-vineyard wines at the top, showing the character of one site.
Vinification follows the same tiers. The approachable wines are made in temperature-controlled stainless steel and keep their fruit and freshness. The single-vineyard wines take the more demanding route: longer lees ageing, partly maturation in large wooden casks, often one to two years before release. The result are Sauvignon Blancs built less on showy aromatics than on texture, length and ageing potential. The lighter wines often sit only just above 12 % abv, while the single-vineyard wines are fuller.
Notable Sites & Wines
The heart of the range are the vineyards around the winery:
- Ried Hochgrassnitzberg – classified as a Große STK site (GSTK); on limestone-rich ground it produces the estate's best-known Sauvignon Blanc
- Ried Grassnitzberg – the home site that gives the estate its address
- Ried Obegg – Sauvignon Blanc and Morillon with a dense, spicy character
- Ried Theresienhöhe – another site bottled as a single-vineyard wine
- Regional and village wines in Südsteiermark DAC – the broad entry level with Welschriesling, Gelber Muskateller, Weißburgunder and Grauburgunder
- Plus rosé and sparkling wine
Annual production runs to around 500,000 bottles.
Awards
Polz wines have been a fixture in Austrian wine guides and tastings for decades. The Sauvignon Blanc from the Ried Hochgrassnitzberg is singled out particularly regularly: the 2021 vintage earned 96 Falstaff points, putting it among the very best Styrian Sauvignon Blancs. More important than individual trophies, though, is the estate's role for its region: the Polz brothers helped make South Styria what it is today – one of the finest white wine areas in Central Europe.