‘Everyman’ drinks Esterházy wine

The Blaufränkisch Leithaberg DAC 2023 by Esterházy winery provides the perfect accompaniment to the festival, which features the play Jedermann [Everyman], an annual tradition, as well an array of first-class operas and concerts between 17 July and 30 August 2026.

Three centuries of wine culture

Wine and culture have been inextricably linked at Esterházy since the days of the Habsburg monarchy and the Austro-Hungarian empire. Its wines were aged in the cellars of the baroque Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt while just a few storeys above, one of the great masters of the Classical period was composing: Joseph Haydn. 

Haydn served as the Esterházy court composer from 1761 to 1803, creating some of his most significant works over these three decades. The patronage of the Esterházy princes is credited with helping the “Father of the Symphony” reach unprecedented heights in his composing career. Hayden was paid part of his salary in Esterházy wine, the records of which can still be seen in the wine museum below the Palace today.

A common language

“My language is understood throughout the world,” Haydn was famously quoted as saying of his celebrated compositions, with his successful premieres earning him extra allotments of fine wine from the family cellars.

These wines were as innovative as Haydn’s work. The Esterházy princes introduced the first Pinot Noir vines in what is now northern Burgenland in 1758 and their winery was one of the first in Austria to produce single-varietal wines.  

Opera in the Quarry

Esterházy continues to proudly uphold these twin legacies today. Its wines are produced from 21 vineyard sites in the Leithaberg appellation and it is recognised for its expertise with Blaufränkisch, even crafting a whole sparkling wine pyramid from this native red variety.

It experiments with different fermentation vessels including giant concrete eggs and oak barrels sourced from its own responsibly managed local forests.

The historic St. Margarethen quarry, arguably Europe’s most beautiful open-air stage, is another example of the way in which the Esterházy Family Private Foundation, has helped breathe new life into a special cultural venue. The former Roman quarry-turned-festival complex has been comprehensively and sensitively developed and every summer the Opera in the Quarry impresses music connoisseurs and opera enthusiasts from all over the world.

The quarry is surrounded by the Kogl single vineyard with its barren, fine limestone-sandstone soil. Like the rest of the Esterházy’s estate, the vineyard is organically cultivated and dry farmed. The vines are gently pruned, then hand picked before being taken the short distance to Esterházy’s modern-day winery in Trausdorf. Its winemaking practices and styles have evolved with the times, but the pioneering spirit of the Esterházys lives on in its wines of origin.

“We want not only to continue with tried-and-tested concepts, but also to develop them in a diverse and multifaceted way,” adds Wolfgang Hewarth. Whether in wine, art or culture, Esterházy’s guiding principle is: “From classical to modern, from piano to forte.”