With the apple balsamic vinegar. It's the classic that goes with almost everything: over salad, with cheese, a few drops on steak. If you prefer a fruity-fresh start, choose the raspberry vinegar. Both are very forgiving and quickly show what a good vinegar can do.

A vinegar whose fruit juice is cooked down before fermentation and then matures for years in oak barrels. The sweetness comes entirely from the fruit; nothing is added. Classic balsamic is made from grapes. In 1984, Alois Gölles made the first one from apples. Today, apple, pear and wine mature in our barrels.

Gölles is certified as an organic farm, controlled by Austria Bio Garantie. This means we are allowed to work with certified organic quality. It does not mean that every single product bears the organic seal. You can see whether a certain variety is certified on the label and on the product page. There are reasons why some varieties deliberately do not bear a seal, and we state them openly.

Some fruits are rarely available in certified organic quality. Old apple varieties, for example, that grow on individual trees in gardens and come to us in small quantities.

Then there's the origin. Even in conventional cultivation, Austria has some of the strictest plant protection regulations in Europe. We prefer fruits from farmers we know to certified goods transported to Riegersburg from far away.

Where a conversion is justifiable for us, we undertake it. We continue to work on this. Where a seal would be the worse choice compared to regionality and trust, we do without it.

Yes. In Riegersburg, in the Styrian Vulkanland, you’ll find Austria’s largest vinegar barrel cellar, with around 1,500 oak barrels. There is a self-guided tour with an audio guide in several languages, guided tours with tasting, and private tours for groups and anyone who wants to go deeper.