Nibiru

Schönberg am Kamp, Kamptal, Austria

Nibiru is currently the ambitious and groundbreaking project from Josef Schenter, located in the most northern part of the Kamptal region in Austria. It started life in 2015 when Josef met Julia Nather, with whom he would develop and grow Nibiru for the better part of 10 years before they parted ways in late 2025.

The two met in 2015 whilst working for Schloss Gobelsburg and shortly after started their experimentations and vinified their first two cuvées, a Grüner Veltliner pet nat and an old-vine Blauer Portugieser. The success of these two wines served as the inspiration for what would eventually become Nibiru.

Josef’s family have made wines for about five generations so he grew up in the vineyards, and was always immersed in a winemaking culture. He decided on a wine career at the age of 15, and went on to train in winemaking, viticulture, and microbiology as part of his high school studies. During this time he was also working with his father at Weingut Schenter, the previous family winery.

A year or so after meeting, Julia and Josef continued their training by working a harvest together with Johan Meyer (‘Stompy’) in South Africa, which Josef ended up going back for in 2018. 2016 was the first ‘proper’ Nibiru vintage, featuring a more thorough range of wines which they vinified at Josef’s family winery.

In 2021, Josef’s father retired and the family winery was handed down. After much debate Josef and Julia made the decision to convert the entirety of the production to the Nibiru style. This came with a restructuring of the range, a new label aesthetic, and a continuation of the philosophy that they started in 2015. Josef now farms and vinifies 16 hectares’s worth of grapes, and continues to tweak and refine his natural farming practices and winemaking methods. 

The name ‘Nibiru’ comes from the ancient Sumerians, who wrote on stone plates that there is a planet with the name Nibiru that only comes through our solar system once every 3600 years. Whilst all the planets turn in one direction around the sun, Nibiru goes the opposite way, a concept that Josef believe suits his wines. He sees them as choosing their own direction, going their own way.