PATRICK PROIDL: Kremstal's Young Winemaker Genius

By Stuart Pigott - last revision: 09.11.26

I can’t imagine anyone meeting Patrick Proidl of the Proidl winery in Senftenberg/Kremstal for the first timed being struck by what a positive young man he is, yes, how nice he is. And that’s exactly how I felt when I first met him the annual portfolio tasting of SoilAir Selection in New York City about 12 years ago.  

But in the international wine scene, particularly among people of my generation (I'm 66) there’s a widespread prejudice that a great winemaker must be a Great Man. I'm referring to the stereotype of a supremely self-confident male of at least 40 years of age, who is egotistical to the point of narcissism and has tremendous superficial charm (oops, that’s almost the definition of a psychopath!) How very 20th century, or should I say late 19th century?

Patrick was born in 1992 and just turned 34, so he fails to qualify on that point alone. However, more importantly, his wonderfully engaging personality and his non-egotistical passion for vineyards and winemaking make him the exact opposite of the monsters I just described. Of course, in the eyes of those who've signed up to this past-its-sell-by-date winemaker stereotype all this makes Patrick look like a second team player at best, according to the ugly motto, "how could someone so un-macho ever make a truly great wine?" 

I'm sure that if someone was dumb enough enough to ask Patrick that question he would take them to the gateway to the winery and point out at the Ebritzstein, a  terraced vineyard site directly across the road from his winery that he’s recultivating. Then he would probably say something like, "great wine grows…if you have great sites and you do great vineyard cultivation." I would add that male strength definitely isn’t a matter of glistening muscles, but of determination and the ability to master complex challenges with a team (and maybe female strength is those same things?)

Patrick’s grandfather Robert had just 5 hectares of vineyards, then in 1981 he had a fall and Patrick’s father Franz took over. „When my father started there was no Ried Ehrenfels, no Ried Pfeningberg and only a small area in the Ried Hochäcker. He recultivated all that we have in these vineyard sites.“ Together with Ried Pellingen, they are the top sites of Senftenberg. Now Patrick has a total of 30 hectares of vineyards. 

2011 was Patrick's first vintage, then he gained full responsibility for the vineyards and winemaking in 2015. By pure chance that was also the point that climate change fundamentally altered the situation in Senftenberg. "The coolness of Senftenberg used to be a disadvantage, but now it is a massive advantage. 2015 was the turning point." Instead of great wines being possible only 2-3 times decade, now they’re possible almost every year.

And so, by pure chance, Patrick started out at a very propitious moment for this sub-region of the Kremstal, which is actually located in the steep-sided and twisting valley of the river Krems (that flows into the Danube at the city of the same name). However, this doesn’t explain the EXTRAORDINARY ORIGINALITY of these wines, that reached a new pinnacle in the 2025 vintage. Certainly, the vineyard sites are the foundation for everything Patrick does, but there's more to it than that.

"My father is the best teacher!" he said to me with great emphasis in the tasting room.This,although Patrick went to the wine school in nearby Krems, then did a practical experience, "and a lot of reading."Patrick has worked torefine and perfect the very distinctive winemaking style that Franz developed,for which the key principal in the cellar work is to work so cleanly that it's possible for the wines to (with some gentle guidance) slowly find their own way.

Doing things differently with good reason, and that leading to breathtakingly different wines is in the Proidl DNA. This means that you need to open your mind and the doors of perception to get the best from the Proidl wines. Of course, not everyone is smitten with them, and not just because some minds are closed. Their distinctive balance is polarizing.

When I point this out to Patrick he replies, "Ich habe einen breiten Buckel. Da können viele Leute runter rutschen!" In English, I have a wide back like a duck's, so lots of water just rolls off it. That resilience is also in the Proidl DNA, those words of Austrian German being a quote from Patrick's great-aunt Mizzi.

KREMSTAL PERFECTION !

Proidl  Kremstal  Grüner Veltliner  Ried Ehrenfels 1ÖTW  2025 - 13.5% / Gaze into the depths of this fjord of yellow and green fruits, through the clear the waters you see the fascinating contours of its rocky bed! Yes, this has enormous concentration and reined-in power, but the wet-stone freshness is no less extraordinary at the almost endless finish. A giant of finesse in spite of the great structure. Decades of aging potential. 100 (SP) 

Proidl  Kremstal  Riesling  Ried Hochäcker 1ÖTW  2025 - 14% / It’s impossible to imagine how a dry Riesling could be better than this totally expressive, dynamic and succulent wine. Immense yellow peach and fresh pineapple aromas are wrapped around an extremely complex stony core to create a perfect whole. And the tingling minerality remains long, long after you swallow. 100 (SP)

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