Austria lost one of his most important personalities in the wine business. Alois Kracher from Illmitz won all prices, a winemaker can win around the world. He was well known all over the world. Not only for his famous sweet wines, but for his thinking and believing in quality and his region, where he came from.

The Burgenland, near the Hungarian border, with it's lakes is famous for a very special type of sweet-wines, which he and his family brought to a new quality level.

Kracher first arrived international applause for his 1991 collection. He got famous with the 1995 vintage, when he got the highest points from all impotant wine-critics like Jancis Robinson or Robert Parker jr.

His wines won in blindtastings against Chateau d'Yquem and other Sauternes. In the meantime he, with the help of his father, had 20 hectares and concentrated his winemaking to the sweet-wine collections, even when he won prices for his reds.

Just one month ago he presented the famous new collection of the vintage 2005 with 15 wines, who set new level for elegance and typicity.

Alois Kracher also got famous for his projects with his friends like Manfred Krankl (Winery Sine Qua Non in California), where they made sweetwines under the label Mr. K.

With another friend, Hans Schwarz they made "cult-wines" out of autochthone Austrian grape varieties. Wine-Gelées and Chocolate were following, he helped as a consultant in wine-projects in Austria and Spain.

With all his success he never lost the "roots". He stayed the buddy from next door, knowing, that there will be years with less quality or weather, that will not allow to produce sweet wines.

We will miss him. We lost a friend.