A NEW VISION
With the launch of its second electric model, the Q4 e-tron, Audi is paving the way in electromobility. But the car brand isn’t the only innovator looking towards sustainability. Here, three visionaries who dare to do things differently share their storie
‘We’d like to inspire others to follow us down the same
path. We have the power to change a lot’
Stephanie and Eduard Tscheppe-Eselböck
“Neither of us likes to mess around. I met Eduard 13 years ago at a wine tasting in Vienna. Three months later, he asked me to marry him,” says Stephanie. “We very quickly realised that we wanted to build something together.
“When we first took over the vineyard, we thought, ‘This will be easy.’ Eduard had studied economics, I’d studied gastronomy. He comes from a wine-growing family in Styria, southern Austria; my parents own the Taubenkobel restaurant, an hour’s drive south of Vienna. We were well-connected.
“A handful of people bought our first vintage out of pity. People just didn’t really get what we were doing. ‘Are you crazy?’ they would say. ‘The wines are murky. And what’s with the funny faces on the labels?’ Customers wanted conventional wines that they were familiar with — the natural wine trend hadn’t really caught on yet.
“We cultivate our vineyards using biodynamic principles — that means no synthetic fertilisers or chemical sprays. We leave our vines totally in nature’s hands. The result is unpredictable wines with unique personalities, ripening in a different way each year, according to the whims of nature.
“It was a crazy challenge for us. The first eight years as new growers were tough. Debts, notices… But we pushed forward. We believed in our ideas and trusted our gut.
“The process begins with the soil and the root of the vine. Our wine tastes of Burgenland — its climate, the earth. We don’t force it artificially just to please people. If the wine doesn’t ferment on its own or if the grapes get sick, we look at the cause instead of simply treating the symptoms. Where is the imbalance in the landscape? Are the vines getting too much sun? Does the soil need to be looser? And then we nurture it gently with compost and plant extracts.
“Last year, we planted a dozen trees. The whole ecosystem plays a part in winemaking, and global warming can’t be ignored. Climate change puts a strain on nature — the harvests get earlier each year. There are good years and there are lean years; as such, our annual yield is quite low. We don’t want to exploit nature either; we want to cultivate it sustainably over the long term. And for us to improve, we do as much as possible by hand and on foot, even if that means more work.
“We do need a little tractor for breaking up the soil and moving around our 25 hectares, but we’ve also had a horse since 2020 — a young gelding. His name is Nox, as in the Latin for ‘night’. Before industrialisation, draft animals were commonly used in viniculture. They exert less pressure on the ground than heavy machines, which compress the earth and suffocate the life underneath.
“When the horse is working among the vines, everything is charged with such positive energy — it’s indescribable. You lose track of time. You steer and let yourself be steered at the same time.
“Today, we sell our wine in 60 different countries, as far away as Guatemala. It’s been lovely to hear from people across the world, to know that our wine has resonated with them. We’d like to inspire others to follow us down the same path. We have the power to change a lot.”
“My parents were part of the environmental movement in the Seventies: nuclear energy, acid rain, pesticides. For the first time, people were talking about the substances on and in our food that can’t be seen but which definitely aren’t good for us. Because of this, what we ate at home came straight from the farmer, the market or the health-food shop. And it was this awareness that made me who I am. Today, 98 per cent of the products I use in my kitchen are sourced locally, I waste as little as possible and, of course, the harvest determines what ends up on my plate.
“Starting out, I would never have guessed how empowering and exciting it could be to provide for myself. But there’s so much to discover: countless varieties of cabbage, even more potatoes, forests full of edible plants, Chinese lettuce — an almost forgotten vegetable — and the American pawpaw. Regionality is still often misunderstood. If a product can grow here naturally, then it comes from here. The ‘typically German’ potato originally came from South America, while cabbage is from southern Europe.
“I ferment fish sauce from carp, miso from peas, soy sauce from koji mould. Not everyone has to be a fan. Many of my guests are taken aback because their palates aren’t used to the intensity of unprocessed products. But I can live with negative reviews. I would rather a guest think one of my dishes is crap than forgettable. My goal is to stir something in people, both mentally and emotionally.
“When it comes to food, we let so much slip past us. People have to rediscover that connection between nature and their plate; a reintroduction, if you like. And we’re all responsible in some way: the food industry, the state, the economy and society as a whole.
“Putting cabbage on the agenda would be a good start: it can teach you about photosynthesis, biodiversity, nutrients, ecological processes, climate change, cabbage recipes, anything you like. It’s about finding value in what keeps us alive and treating it with respect. Thankfully, this is already beginning to happen. Before, people like my parents were mocked and insulted. They were labelled ‘tree-huggers’. But now, organic is the new luxury.
“We need to make organic and regional the new standard, though, and tax the rest. Killing a cow and shipping it from the US to only use 3kg of meat out of it — that’s just wrong. On the SoSein menu, we had one dish called the Schlachtplatte (slaughter plate). Traditionally, this kind of dish would include sausage with some more meat piled on top. Our version was true to the taste, but mainly vegetable-based, with a little sliced Mangalica pig liver.
“There’s always room to grow. When I started putting my philosophy into practice as a chef, I would notice more and more little details: where does the 280kg of sugar for fermentation actually come from? Where does the toilet soap come from? How much electricity goes where? I try to make my ideas available to everyone. For three years, I’ve given lectures about how simple and enjoyable sustainability can be. The best arguments come out of my kitchen, using so-called waste products to convince my guests with facts.”
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