The Weinbauschule Klosterneuburg continues to innovate new grape varieties.
Austrian wine lovers all know Zweigelt, the quintessential Austrian red wine and the foundation grape of the Neusiedlersee DAC. Undemanding, Zweigelt wines can range from young, fruit-rich daily quaffs to complex, barrique-matured regional specialties. The eternal Austria grape…except that Zweigelt didn’t exist before 1922. It’s the greatest success so far of...
This year’s VieVinum showcases the best of Austria and introduces little known Swiss and Dalmatian wines at the Hofburg from June 9 to 11.
Wine fairs are like gallery openings, clusters of trendy urbanites chatting at high tempo and knocking back quantities of wine. The difference is that at a Vernissage, it is practically de rigeur to ignore the art; at...
Why "low intervention" wines have a hard time getting designated
The disastrous Austrian wine scandal that shook the world in 1985 left a lasting mark on the industry: After it came out that wine was sweetened with toxic antifreeze, quality checks were tightened in Austria and are now among the strictest in the world. “A blessing in disguise,” as Luzia...
The Viennese love their white wines young and fresh. Winemakers in Gols would prefer to wait.
Farmers the world over complain about the weather – too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry. Wine growers are no different – that is, mostly: The white wine bounty of 2017 has left Austria’s vintners singing praises to the weather gods. Last year...
Austrian reds have struggled to catch up with their magnificent white cousins, but the best are now coming of age.
Historically, Austria has always been white wine territory, that freshly drawn carafe of iconic Grüner Veltliner greeting you in your favorite Vienna Heuriger. Red wine was, well, there and we drank it. But this began to change in the 1980s,...
If Rome has coffee and Moscow has vodka, then Vienna’s soul fuel is surely wine.
The city is awash in the stuff: dozens of Vinotheken and wine bars, some as vast as supermarkets and others intimate, but all bring us the best that France, Italy or Spain has to offer. To say nothing of the several hundred growers within easy...
The unique qualities of older vintages aren’t apparent, so let an expert’s insight guide you.
Old wines hold a certain mystery. With their dusty labels, shelved away in chilly cellars, their allure is in the rediscovery. Like a message in a bottle (quite literally), the value of the contents has as much to do with its transformation as with the...
Hungary has a terroir all its own, with a heart and soul rooted in the small, family vineyards
Less than three hours from Vienna, you are in a very different world of bor (wine): the Badacsony region on Lake Balaton, Hungary. The Badacsony-hegy (mountain – and the Y’s are silent) is a basalt outcrop along the north shore, once a...
Unpredictable weather has kept Austrian vintners
on their toes, making the 2017 vintage a challenging one
As smartphones and technology keep us curled up inside, we like to think we have mastered our environment, but ask any vintner and he’ll tell you a different story: The smallest meteorological factor can make or break a vintage, and, technology notwithstanding, good wine is...
