David Gölles

The Path

Fruit processing and distillation are the throughline in David Gölles’s work, and that line runs straight through Gölles GmbH in Riegersburg, Austria. Raised at home in Riegersburg as a "Schnapsbrennerkind," David Gölles was exposed from an early age to the handling of fruit and its transformation. That proximity to orchard material and to the discipline of turning it into spirits is not background decoration; it is the base of the practice. Ruotker´s / House of Whiskey, Gin and Rum extends that same logic into a focused house of spirits. As founder and operator, David Gölles works within a field where material, process, and personal judgment all matter, and the name itself points to the range he has chosen to work in.

The Work Today

Whiskey, gin, and rum sit at the center of the current work at Gölles GmbH in Riegersburg, Austria. These spirits require a steady hand and a clear sense of character, and David Gölles frames that room for decision plainly: “Because with those products I can bring in an enormous amount of my own influence.” That line is the key to the house style. The work is not presented as distance from the product, but as direct involvement in shaping it. Through Ruotker´s / House of Whiskey, Gin and Rum, the craft is organized around selection, expression, and the controlled use of influence across whiskey, gin, and rum.

Signature

David's signature wines include Ruotker´s Whiskey, HANDS ON Organic Gin, Ron Johan Rum, and HANDS ON Gin. Each name sits within the same broader world of spirits, and together they sketch the contours of his craft: whiskey with its depth and structure, gin with its aromatic clarity, rum with its warmth, and the repeated presence of HANDS ON as a pointed reminder of directness and involvement. The list reads less like a catalog than a set of signatures, each one tied to his working identity.

In Their Words “Because with those products I can bring in an enormous amount of my own influence.”

Acclaim

The recognition here is structural rather than ceremonial: David Gölles is the contact for Gölles GmbH in Riegersburg, Austria, and that public role places him at the point where family proximity to fruit, distillation, and spirit-making becomes visible in the trade. The same holds for Ruotker´s / House of Whiskey, Gin and Rum, where the work is defined by that continuity and by the shaping of a contemporary spirits portfolio from within it.