by Peter Moser
After eight years as managing director, Michael Thurner leaves the Austrian Wine Marketing Board today to begin a new career. At midnight, Willi Klinger, who has been behind the scenes at the office in Vienna for the past three months, will assume his
official role as Thurner s successor. The position is the crowning moment of Klinger s wine career, which has already features a broad base in both national as well as international wine marketing and sales. As the son of an Upper Austrian restaurant owner, he studied French and Italian, learning the wine trade afterwards with the distributor A. V. Stangl in Salzburg. He later helped develop the Austrian chain Wine & Co, before acquiring international skills as the executive manager responsible for sales and marketing at the Freie Weingärtner Wachau. For the past five years he has responsible for more than 50 export markets for Angelo Gaja. Willi Klinger is married, has two children and lives in Vienna.
