Karl Bajano: Mister Schmücking, you are a product manager in the largest organic association in Austria, known as Bio Austria. What exactly does the association do?

Jürgen Schmücking: BIO AUSTRIA is an organisation of organic farmers in Austria. It is not a viticultural association in the sense that Ecovin is, rather it is an umbrella association for all organic agricultural producers. There are currently around 14 000 such producers, including around 250 organic wine producers. Normally that would be such a small number as to be almost unnoticeable, but wine is a prestige product, and therefore it is particularly the wine producers who are at the focus of public attention. The core function of Bio Austria is not really to market speciality products, that is not what the organisation was created to do, but lately it is this function that has really come to the fore. Bio Austria moves many tons of cereals, and is a lobbyist, among other things for higher milk prices, in a sense it is therefore at a very high level a sort of trade union of organic farmers. There are product managers for all sectors, our service consists of providing an advisor and a marketing consultant for the producers. I have a certain degree of freedom as a result of the fact that wine is such a small part of the whole organisation. What is particularly important is that the projects are prominently positioned in the public eye, which includes successful participation and results at trade shows and - this is particularly important - that positive reviews are published and read as widely as possible.

Jürgen Schmücking, head of Bio-Austria

Could one therefore describe you as being a specialised PR manager?

To be completely accurate, I have three functions within Bio Austria. First is the classical media work involving all the details, then there is the decision as to which trade fairs we will attend, with all the organisational work that is involved in that respect, and there is the very important field of direct communication with the distribution partners of the wine producers. Naturally participation in trade fairs is discussed and agreed with the wine producers, particularly as to who will be represented there, and in which form, as not all trade fair dates can be handled personally by the wine producers. That is particularly important with regard to the trade fairs in Asia. There I am frequently the person who presents the wines on behalf of the participating wine producers.


What do you do about budgets? Do the wine producers have to finance that all themselves?

I have a budget that I can use, after consultation, and no, they do not. Of course they pay their membership fees and contributions to BA Austria, but in addition to this there are state programmes financed by the appropriate local organisations, and a part is also contributed by the EU.



You have also recently initiated a cooperative project with a German partner, is that right?

Yes, we are now working more closely with Bioland, which is organised in a style similar to ours. However, there is one significant difference. In Austria, the political decision was taken some time ago to combine the diverse small state associations into a single, powerful organisation, namely Bio Austria. Things are different in Germany, where there are numerous competitive organisations, which has the advantage that each producer can choose the association that suits him best, but it does nothing in terms of concentrating efforts. Bioland Deutschland is the largest such association in Germany, but we also work closely with Bioland Südtirol in Alto Adige in Italy.


What will be your activities at the upcoming BioFach trade show in Nuremberg in Germany?

A little different to the usual picture, as the BioFach show is practically the main trade fair in Europe for organic products. Here we, as Austrians and without our partners, have a very large stand, as the organic wine producers are present in person. We are being actively supported by ÖWM, the Austrian Wine Marketing office, which has not always been a given in the past, and this development has naturally been very welcome. We now have a good base for cooperative and mutually beneficial work.


But presumably the BioFach show is not the only activity on the German market?

No, of course not. We work closely with natural food chains and with organic supermarkets; we engage in listing discussions and also provide our own in-store promotions. As of autumn this year we will be organising a series of presentations in organic hotels in Germany. But I must stress once again that we are not a sales organisation, we simply engage in lobbying work to support the sales efforts of wine producers. That includes inviting interested parties, mainly from the corporate and trade sectors to tastings, accompanying them on visits to wine producers or, as mentioned above, organising advertising and promotions in their sphere of activity.


Down to the basics, what is a certificate?

A certificate is an official confirmation that the producer mentioned adheres to specific criteria in its production, and that this has been controlled. There is a transitional phase lasting two years, and this is also controlled. Certification is possible with regard to three processing criteria. The category with the fewest restrictions is the EU standard, for which there are appropriate regulations. If you wish to be a member of Bio Austria, you must comply with stricter regulations. The strictest and most restrictive regulations are those applying to biodynamic wine producers, who must obtain certification in accordance with the guidelines of the Demeter association. Demeter is currently also the only group that specifies obligatory guidelines for cellar procedures. The reason for this is that traditionally organic associations have been organisations for producers, not for processors. However, cellar technology is a point we are focussing on strongly in Brussels, and I am convinced there will be obligatory regulations on cellar technology for all in the foreseeable future.

The logo of the association

If an organic farmer wants to offer his products for sale in Austria, or also in Germany, as organic products, then he must submit details to one of the official controlling agencies, that have nothing whatsoever to do with marketing or promotion, and they will check on the accuracy of his claims. Not only the product itself will be controlled, but in the case of organic wine the vineyards, too, will be subject to detailed scrutiny. Associations such as Bio Austria have nothing to do with this aspect.

There are precise rules as to which words, terms and designations may be used, apart from the underlying fact that the production procedures have to be appropriate. These control agencies are run by independent companies that in turn have to be accredited. These controllers are supervised by a controlling institution that operates on an EU-wide basis.


How can one see where a wine has been controlled?

An organic wine will state a coded number on the back label, allowing you to find that out. For example, you will see AT(Austria)N(origin of the fruit), followed by Bio and the number of the controlling agency.


Well, from my point of view that is quite a lot of different designations that can sometimes be rather confusing.

It is a huge problem that there are still a number of grey areas that are not yet controlled, that means there are a number of designations that to the consumer sound very similar to the approved designations, but in fact are not yet part of a controlled system. That frequently causes considerable confusion. Example: from ecodynamic agriculture (aus ökodynamischem Landbau). In this form it means nothing. They are working with a term that is meant to symbolise something, without that being the case. It may well be that the wine producer concerned is implementing sustainable or even organic practices, but the fact that he has not gone for certification means he can do practically whatever he wants to without any fear of sanctions if he does not follow the main principles. Other terms we have seen include the guarantee that a product is ”farm-produced”, and the other favourite is ”close to nature”. Naturally all certified producers work in such a manner, but the term is fuzzy and indistinct, it is not protected and it causes consumers a lot of confusion.


Not only that, one occasionally hears reports that specifically organic products sometimes taste less typical, or not as good. And in such cases it can happen that a cheap product offered by some discount chain ends up as the shining winner in some test review, for instance in the case of olive oil. How can that be?

The fact that the topic of organic farming has been of such interest to consumers in recent times has meant that this sector has also become of interest to major companies, who respond by expanding their range of such products. Once you are talking about these kinds of volumes, you are naturally no longer talking about artisanal production. Nutritional concepts, production concepts and marketing concepts are thus added on top of the organic designation. It all started off with fruit juices. A large-scale producer simply has to utilise fruit juice concentrates, there is no alternative. Naturally this must be sourced from organically grown fruit that is all quite correct in terms of technology and in terms of taste. However, consumers simply expect that an organic product should stand out head and shoulders from the crowd; it must be recognisable in a positive sense. However, it is a fact that a product made from raw material grown in an ideally suited region, and that is not altered technically, can taste better than an organic product that is made from fruit sourced from a less favourable region. That is what I mean by concepts that are simply loaded on top. To be able to supply everything at all times, sourced from somewhere, that can be made to work in a logistic sense, but it does not really correspond with the original organic philosophy.



This problem has in the past not existed in the world of wine, quite the contrary. In other words, the rougher, the less polished, let’s be kind, the more rustic a wine tasted, the more one would expect this to bet he result of organic production methods. This has changed radically in recent times. How did this come about?

Yes, those are the prejudices we are still up against at this stage. And I have to admit that they were to some extent justified, unfortunately there used to be quite a few wines that fitted this preconception. But there is something you should not forget: when the first winemakers started with organic production, they practically had to reinvent each step of the process from scratch. There was no experience to refer back to, for anything. One simply cannot thank these pioneers, who were often subject to massive attacks from their immediate environment, enough for their courage and determination. Bear in mind that when they started off nobody knew, for instance, how to combat Peronospora (mildew). Anybody who knows a little about wine knows what a problem it is to process infected grapes - and there was no alternative, as to cope with a loss of the vintage several years in succession would have meant immediate economic ruin. Those were extremely tough years on a learning curve.

Cover crops are extremely important in viticulture

It seems this has now been overcome, all the more since quite well-known and also quite large producers are now using organic methods, and have been certified accordingly.

We also see this in a very positive light. We now have a rich store of experience on which to continue building. In addition there is a great sense of community, so that in critical times, particularly in the vineyards, experienced colleagues are available to provide assistance. This mutual aspect is very positive, and provides more security for all concerned.


What is your opinion on the allegation, which is increasingly being voiced, that many well-known producers are simply jumping on the bandwagon now that this is considered to be trendy?

To be honest, I have also had to follow a learning curve, and it has taken some time to free myself of this. I am now of the opinion that there is a very positive aspect to the efforts by many well-known producers. This must also be seen against the background that, unfortunately until quite recently many journalists, who are important for us, often wrote a lot of nonsense about organic wine production. Now, most of the articles that appear are very well researched, and journalists are taking the matter seriously. It is only natural that the well-known names should appear more frequently, but that is fine, especially since the pioneers are now also increasingly receiving recognition.


Mister Schmücking, thank you very much for this interview, we wish you and all the wine producers every success.

A list of wine producers in Austria who hold currently valid control contracts

Bio-Weingut Diwald

Weingut Mehofer - Neudeggerhof

Weingüter Bioveritas

Weingut Familie Wimmer-Czerny

Bio-Weingut Johannes Zillinger

Weingut Fred Loimer

Weingut Bernhard Ott

Weingut Günther Schönberger

Weingut Pretterebner

Weingut Söllner

Weinbau Roisz

MEINKLANG - Weingut Michlits

Lesehof STAGÅRD

Weinbau Beilschmidt

Christian Mrozowski

Wein und Heuriger Pferschy-Seper

Weinbau Hajszan

Fritz Salomon - Gut Oberstockstall

Rotweinbau Moritz

Weinbau Graf

Weingut Kirchberghof Biosektkellerei

Weingut Groiß