There are questions one does not ask for years - until one asks them, and afterwards everything is different. Alois Gölles Jr. asked such a question in the early 198 0s. He was an engineer in fruit processing; he understood what happens to fruit when you apply the right process to it. The question was simple: Why don't we make better vinegar out of good fruit?
The hills where it all began
In the late 1950s, Alois Gölles Sr. was one of the first in Styria to systematically grow fruit on hills. The locations around Riegersburg, the volcanic soil of the Styrian Volcanic Region - that was his terrain.
What the father had built was the raw material. The son turned it into the question.
Klosterneuburg, 1982, Modena
Alois Jr. studied at HBLA Klosterneuburg, the Federal College for Viticulture and Pomology. He learned what lies within a fruit: the acids, the sugars, the aromas that only emerge when you give the process space.
In 1982, he traveled to Modena and saw what was possible with grapes. Years of aging in barrels. Concentration through evaporation. A depth and texture that could not be accelerated.
The question arose from this experience almost by itself: If it works with grapes - why not with apples?
The barrel, the time, the result
The first attempts required, above all, patience. Reducing sweet cider, fermenting, putting it into barrels, waiting. In 1984, the result was ready. The world's first apple balsamic vinegar. A category that did not exist before - no balsamic from apples, no vinegar of this sweetness and depth from local fruit. For 15 years, Gölles remained the only producer worldwide.
This is not an anecdote. It is a fact that shows what happens when you give a simple question the time it needs.
What began in 1984 is today the centerpiece of our assortment. The Apple Balsamic Vinegar matures for at least ten years in oak barrels. It is the product that says the most about us: about patience, about trust in the process, about the conviction that time achieves more than any technical shortcut.
The XA Apple Balsamic Vinegar goes even further. Over twenty years of aging in the batteria, seven different wooden barrels, each smaller than the previous one. A result that cannot be explained without having tasted it.
Alois Gölles invented a category in 1984. Today, others are asking the same question. That is a good thing - it shows that the question was the right one. What counts is the answer.
Taste from time.
