Alois Kracher

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Alois Kracher Jr., (February 23, 1959 – December 5, 2007) was one of the most successful winemakers of Austria, and was known under the nickname "Luis". The wines from his vineyard Weinlaubenhof Kracher reached a world reputation and high acclaim from international wine critics such as Robert M. Parker, Jr., who awarded 98 points or higher on his famous 100-point scale to several of Kracher's wine. His fame was mainly built on his sweet wines, so called Trockenbeerenauslesen (TBA) of high sweetness and enormous concentration that results from the development of noble rot on the grapes. Local conditions on the shallow Lake Neusiedl, where the Kracher vineyards are situated, are conducive to the development of Botrytis cinerea which is the fungus responsible for noble rot.

Kracher first studied chemistry and worked as a chemist in the pharmaceutical industry. From 1986 he started working in the vineyard of his father Alois Kracher Senior (born 1929), and brought the business to fame with his new style of sweet TBAs. Alois Senior continued to work in the vineyards while Alois Junior were in charge of winemaking and overall management. This first vintage to receive broad acclaim was 1991. Since 1994, he has received numerous awards for his wines. Kracher was the recipient of several prizes from various sources for best Austrian wine or vinery of the year, Sweet wine maker of the year and so on, including being named "Winemaker of the Year" by the London-based Wine Journal no less than six times.^[1] He was also active in California where Alois Kracher and fellow Austrian Manfred Krankl (who runs the Sine Qua Non winery) produced sweet wines under the label Mr. K. So far, he is the only Austrian wine maker who has received a straight 100 point score by Robert M. Parker's The Wine Advocate, although that score was awarded to a Mr. K wine, the 2004 Mr. K The Strawman, a Vin de Paille from Semillon.^[2]

Alois Kracher Junior died in 2007 after a battle with pancreatic cancer in Illmitz, Burgenland, Austria. He was married and had a son, Gerhard Kracher (born 1981), who at time of Alois' death had been working in the family's wine business for a number of years.