1781.

It's quite common to see an ornate, old fashioned looking framed document hung up on a wall in a winegrower's house in Poysdorf. I've seen many of these on several occasions without giving them special attention.

In 1982 the Farmer's Union awarded these documents to the oldest farmer's families in Lower Austria.

Last week I prepared some documents for the Sustainable Austria Certification that we are currently undergoig and I needed to prove that our winery had a history of at least 30 years. This was the first time I took this framed document off the wall to really look at it.

30 years of growing grapes and making wine is not more than one generation. 233 years is probably something like 6 or 7 generations of winegrowers?

Isn't it crazy to think that we are working in the same family vineyards our ancestors worked in more than 230 years ago?

What was it like to be a winegrower in 1781, in 1881, in 1914 in 1938, in 1945? I have no idea. There were good times probably and really horrible ones for sure. Who were the people that dedicated their lives to continuing the family tradition of winegrowing?

Isn't it a shame that we don't know all their names, their stories and the lessons they learned from life?

What's left of 233 years of hard work, of personal tragedies, deprevations, joy and high spirits, love stories, childrens' laughter and farewells is their heritage. Every single one of them has made their contribution to what we have today.

Maybe in 200 years from now, somebody will ask: what was it like to be a winegrower in 2024.

I really do hope so.