respekt Einkehr (retreat) in December 2025
‘From macrocosm to microcosm’ was the theme of this year's retreat. Implicitly, it was about the ‘vineyard of the future’, explicitly about our increasingly complicated world and how complex systems in agriculture, medicine, society and climate are intertwined and interdependent.
This time, the retreat took place in the Salzkammergut, on beautiful Lake Traunsee, surrounded by impressive mountains. At the Hotel Post Traunkirchen the owner family Gröller had extremely comfortable rooms ready for us. Some are even said to have had their own sauna in the room, but we don't know the details ...
The schedule was tight: in addition to lectures and an afternoon of workshops, we also wanted to savour all the wines and sparkling wines from our colleagues, perfectly served by head sommelier Katharina Gnigler and her team. But at least a quick dip in the infinity pool on the roof was possible. Others dared to plunge death-defyingly into the seven-degree Traunsee. Chapeau!
And that's what it was all about:
As the name of the EINKEHR suggests, this annual meeting serves to reflect on the end of the year and the purpose of the association, on what makes our group what it is. That is one thing. The other is further training together: This year, the big issues of the present and future were discussed. How can viticulture continue to survive in times of great challenges?
Martin Grassberger, author, biologist and physician, gave a fast-paced lecture on biological complexity and the invisible web of life.
Hans Reiner Schultz, President of the University of Geisenheim, on the climate system and its change as a complex challenge for agriculture and viticulture.
Kelly Mulville, Paicines Ranch in California, travelled here with Cristina Crava from The Porto Protocol Foundation to introduce us to his ‘Living Vineyards’ viticulture method. Animals—sheep and cattle—play a central role here. With their help, he creates such a rich biodiversity in his vineyards that even almost extinct birds such as the Tricoloured Blackbird have settled there in large numbers. A real gift for ornithologists.
Martin von Mackensen, director of the biodynamic teaching farm Dottenfelderhof, has been an integral part of the retreat for many years. Like few others, he manages to captivate us with his lectures and illustrate how Rudolf Steiner anticipated many of today's pressing issues in his lectures.
And last but not least: Georg Meißner, biodynamic consultant, winegrower and lecturer at Geisenheim University, who has also been with us for many years. He keeps reminding us what it's all about and uses Otto Scharmer's interventions to create a space in which a sense of togetherness is created and in which we challenge each other—or ourselves—with a great deal of respect.
It was an intensive, exciting, enriching and inspiring retreat from which each and every one of us took a lot home with us. Practical things to try out, philosophical things to ponder and enjoyable things to remember.
Thank you to everyone who helped to organise and enrich these days!
