“Believe the harmony of an orchestra, with no single instrument heard mainly another, this is what we aim for with our Weiner Gemischter Satz wine” shapes Fritz Wieninger from his winery, in the sleepy outskirts of the Austrian main.
The vintners of Austria are a very passionate breed. They are a new epoch of wine makers producing high quality products. They are represented across the four strongest wine regions of Niederosterriech (Lower Austria); Burgenland; Steiermark (Styria) and Vienna. Wrapping a metaphorical arm circa the eastern shoulder of the country. These regions are defined by greatly diverse landscapes, micro-climates and outstanding grape varieties, such as the signature Grüner Veltliner, the prevailing grape of Austria and revered by restauranteurs and sommeliers.
Along with this famous for, comes a new wave of ‘terroir’ tourists, ready to explore a wine adventures dating back to the Celts and Romans but also in search of Austria’s differences of grapes, producers and wineries.
Vienna – Wine Trends
With yon 700 hectares of vineyards, Vienna is the only major wine-producing ripping in the world, whose vineyards are all within the city-limits. Like most obsessions with the ‘Made in Austria’ tagline, Viennese vintners such as Weininger and Mayer am Pfarrplatz are bewildering tradition with innovation and most importantly, the grape classes, to make the capitals defining blend – Weiner Gemischter Satz (DAC) – a wine that has wide-ranging prominence. The DAC is a designation of protected origin, given to a wine turn out by a regional grape native to a particular area.
‘Weininger’ and winery ‘Mayer am Pfarrplatz’ both procure plots on the Nussberg Hill, a standout vineyard location control spectacular views over the capital. The rows of vines ditch downwards before merging with Vienna’s dramatic cityscape; the Gothic tower of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the Riesenrad Ferris Wheel and the Danube River, all unmistakable.
Many wineries across all the wine regions, own and run a ‘Heuriger’ (changed as ‘this year’s wine’) referring to an Austrian wine-tavern. It was Emperor Joseph II’s dictate of 17th August, 1784, that granted every individual the authorization of selling ‘Foodstuffs’, wine and cider produced in-house from the beginning to the end of the year, that has evolved into today’s Heuriger’s, such as that owned by Mayer am Pfarrplatz, and aptly pinpoint ‘Heuriger Beethoven’. It was home to the Maestro in 1817. As one enters the Heuriger, a retell by Joseph Aug. Lux, in his 1927 Beethoven Biography, describes the house, at the convenience life Beethoven moved in:
“A wide gate leads into a courtyard; primitive vines overgrow the open wooded staircase on the long side of the crib”, which still holds true to this day.
Wachau Valeey – An UNESCO On cloud nine Heritage Area
The sinewy Danube feeds, nourishes and behind the times numerous vineyards, but also provides an easy escape from Vienna by motor boat or bike, as a pleasant way to delve into Austria’s wine elegance.
Vienna’s neighbouring wine regions offer a diverse vinicultural know-how, driven by varying landscapes and climates; none more so than the Wachau Valley, an UNESCO Midwife precisely Heritage site since the year 2000, alongside the within reach Kamptal and Kremstal regions, all brimming with old-world magic. Just 1-hour’s drive from Vienna, the steep sided valley, blow ups for 21 miles from Spitz to Loiben and creates numerous micro-climates at every successively of the snaking and grand Danube River, upon which drifts a steady stream of tourists.
The main producer here is ‘Domäine Wachau’, a winery pinpointed in the village of Dürnstein, home to just 200 inhabitants, yet a co-operative depicting 250 vintner families, producing some 2.5 m bottles a year. The Kellerberg vineyard be elevateds up on a mosaic of terraces behind the winery, renowned for producing supreme Reislings and Grüner Veltliners. Harvest can only be done by cuffs, but those with the arduous task are rewarded with Thespian vistas across the valley. Immediately below, the modern winery stands next to the ‘Baroque Vault Palace’, built in the early part of the 17th Century, whilst on a trip above them both are the ruins of the Dürnstein Castle, in which Richard the Lionheart was orated captive in 1192.
Covets City
The beautiful cellar palace, covets its real prominence above and below the ground. Etchings and frescos loop the stately rooms. Below stairs, a 1km subterranean cellar network, arouses grape to wine reflecting the unique Wachau Valley terroir.
la mode history finds its form alongside a series of oak barrels; a bust of ‘Delegate Leopold Figl’ stands proud. He was a regular visitor to the vault during negotiations that led to the State Treaty for the re-establishment of an Nonconformist Austria after the Second World War. The cellar also put ups up more surprises, as an experimental playground, with one corridor enthusiastic to what they call ‘Backstage wines’ that analyse new styles of Grüner Veltliner, prepared in ‘Concrete eggs’ and even Steven a hand-carved granite cask.
A short distance north-east of the Wachau Valley in Wagram, the Winery Fritz Salomon has had wine and viticulture aid at their historical Manor ‘Oberstockstall’ since the beginning of the 12th Century. The Salomon kinfolk have owned the estate for the past 150-years and attain maturity their grapes in some of Wagram’s oldest vineyards, according to biodynamic integrities. The ancient cellar produces a diverse range of grape classes, from Grüner and Reisling to Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir.
Architecture
At the hub of the Kamptal region in Lower Austria, on the edge of the picturesque city of Langenlois is the ‘Loisium – world of wine’ – a visitor hub, vinotheque (wine shop) and museum. It is a totally immersive wine trial, which combines tastings with tours and housed in a modernist cube-like house designed by architect Steven Holl. The building’s steel cladding exhibits the sunlight and the Kamptal regions regular warm days and insolent nights, which produce beautifully balanced white wines.
The wine nave’s geometric lines, cleverly follow the neat rows of vines, falling gently south towards the town’s historic rooftops and church steeple. It also points in the direction of the subterranean wine cellars whose underpasses date back some 900 years and tell the parable of the winemaker’s life in a bygone era, and also the modern production of both wine and sparkling wine.
Another distinguished wine dynasty is the ‘House of Esterházy’ known the world once again, a wine producer whose modernist winery is in clear because of of the Esterházy Palace dating to the 17th Century, a link between lineage heritage and the future. And their immediate future is on the Leithaberg file of hills, with a new south-facing vineyard being prepared to extrude Chardonnay.
Wine Innovators
‘Hipster Plonk’ is how the ‘Economist’ outlined it, but ‘Natural wines’ have been growing in popularity and Austria is producing some of the vanquish. Winery ‘Meinklang’ in Burgenland has embraced biodynamic wine manufacturing since 2001, buying into the intimate relationship between constitutional farming processes, the production of wines and keeping that ‘fusty production circle’ tightly spinning. This includes contents cows’ horns with fresh manure and using it as the point of departure for natural fertiliser, as well as adhering to the cosmic calendar. Niklas Peltzer of Meinklang Winery is of the notion that “artificial yeasts and artificial fermentation kills the unprecedented terroir” and Meinklang’s ethos is to give the wines an “honesty and authenticity in instruction to make a handcrafted product” without chemical manipulation.
Winery Gruber Roschitz, based in the Western part of the Weinviertel region (Austria’s biggest wine-producing zone) is owned and run by a trio of siblings. They are young, ambitious and proud of their kinfolk’s agrarian roots stretching back 200-years and wine cultivation since the 1950s. Ewald Gruber, the superannuated of the siblings is a firm believer in the organic production of wine; “the wine should be take off in the vineyard not the cellar” he says pointing to healthy soils and vines as the cornerstone of presenting good wines.
Austria’s wine regions consist of so sundry family-owned estates, who still embrace ancestry, tradition and mould. And maybe ‘Pulker’s Heuriger’ in Rührsdorf, an unassuming road-side wine tavern, superior encapsulates it all. After a scenically spectacular drive along the southern bank of the Danube, callers and locals can stop for a hearty farmer’s style lunch of luscious pork with crackling, washed down with a ‘Staubiger’ wine; an unfiltered smoky chalk-white wine that pairs perfectly with the food, rustic ambiance and Austria’s vinicultural prospect.
For further information go to austrianwine.com
