make them hard to match with food. Unfortunately, the good wines tend to be outnumbered by the flawed wines, which simply have an excessively oxidative character and stale flavours. These are wines that need to be judged on an individual basis. One generally valid criticism of orange wines is that the winemaking method overrides characters derived from variety or soil – in short, they can all taste rather similar.
It is difficult to make a clear division between indigenous and international varieties in the vineyards of Austria. Varieties do not always respect political borders, and thus Grüner Veltliner is found in other parts of central Europe such as Hungary, as is Blaufränkisch. Some international varieties such as Syrah and Merlot, are definitely imports, but others, such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, have a long history within Austria. There are varieties such as Zierfandler and Roter Veltliner that are indeed indigenous, as well as others that are crossings. For such a small country, Austria has a wealth of varieties, including a range of aromatic Traminers, stylish reds such as Blaufränkisch and St Laurent, and beguilingly individual grapes such as Rotgipfler. These are all explained in more detail below.
Bouvier
Named after the banker Clotar Bouvier who first identified the variety in Slovenia in 1900 and cultivated it in Styria. Its origin is unknown. Its berries are small, pinkish, and thin-skinned, so it attracts rot easily, which in the past made it popular as a basis for botrytised wines. There are 220 hectares under vine. Bouvier ripens early but is susceptible to mildew and yields are variable. Although it can give concentrated wine, it often lacks flavour and can become caramelly as it ages. Its low acidity means it is rarely produced as a varietal wine and more often turns up in a blend. But the occasional Heurige in Vienna may offer it unadulterated, and it remains popular as a variety for Sturm, the still-fermenting must that is a much appreciated tipple during the autumn.
Lower Austria, or Niederösterreich, is a political entity, but it happens to include most of Austria’s wine regions, with 28,145 hectares of vineyards. Only Vienna, the Burgenland, and Styria fall outside it. Not surprisingly the region is hardly unified in geological or stylistic terms, as its primary function is administrative rather than viticultural.
Nevertheless the western regions of Lower Austria, Wagram, Kamptal, Kremstal, Traisental, and the Wachau, do have much in common. These are all regions where Grüner Veltliner gives outstanding results, and Riesling too can be first rate, even world class, when planted on certain soils. There is some red-wine production too but it is generally of secondary importance. Two other Lower Austrian regions, Carnuntum and Thermenregion, stand apart.
As a very broad generalisation, there are two basic soil types in western Lower Austria. There are thin soils over primary rock (Urgestein) such as granite or gneiss, which is a hospitable terroir for Riesling. Grüner Veltliner prefers richer soils, and loess is the dominant soil for this variety. Loess is wind-driven sand that can build up to an impressive depth of ten metres or more; it is not unusual in Wagram, for instance, to find a lane flanked by cliffs of loess. Winds come mainly from the Alps, which is why loess tends to build up on the east side of hills. Although loess doesn’t look at first glance like an interesting soil type for vines, its Alpine origin means that the fluffy sandy soils are rich in minerals and crystalline material that give complexity to the wines. These are also regions that can be very dry in summer, which is why so many vineyards are terraced. Michael Moosbrugger of Schloss Gobelsburg observes that in Germany vines are planted down the slope; this is because there is a good deal of rain that
Anyone familiar with the Mosel or Douro valleys would surely agree that the Wachau rivals them as a wine valley of outstanding beauty and drama. At Krems the Danube flows between rather flat terrain, but west of the town the river is more hemmed in by often precipitous hills. It twists and turns through a fairly untamed landscape for 20 kilometres between Unterloiben and Willendorf, the village where the 20,000-yearold carving of the so-called Venus was discovered in 1908. Until the 1950s the region was probably better known for its orchards than for its wines, but tumbling prices for fruit led to vineyard expansion. Today the vineyards clamber up steep terraces, positioned so as to benefit from every possible ray of sunshine, while poorly exposed sites, especially on the south bank, are left to the rocks and forests. Other regions where Riesling and Grüner Veltliner thrive have mixed soils – primarily loess with some primary rock areas – but the Wachau’s 1,344 hectares of vineyards are dominated by weathered granite and gneiss. The rock is often fissured, allowing the vines’ roots to penetrate deeply. The terraces are supported by drystone walls, and their maintenance and occasional reconstruction is a major financial burden to many growers, as is the need to work the vineyards by hand alone. But that is the price to be paid for vines in a great site.
Most of the vineyards are terraced, and average density is around 4,000 vines per hectare, though it does vary according to the space available on each terrace. The maximum yield is 67.5 hectolitres per hectare, although the dry climate usually keeps yields well below the maximum. Average annual rainfall is 460 mm, but can be less than 400 mm; water stress is a problem, both because of low rainfall and because
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years, when the better-drained soils at higher elevations would have the advantage.
The Kremstal entered the DAC system a year earlier than the Kamptal, in 2007. The regulations are identical: the wines must be produced from either Riesling or Grüner Veltliner. The Klassik DAC must have a minimum of 12% alcohol and show no oak influence. The Reserve must have at least 13% and some discreet oak and/or botrytis aromas and flavours are permissible. The maximum residual sugar permitted in a Reserve wine is 9 grams per litre. Other wines must be labelled as being of Niederösterreich origin.
About a quarter of the grapes planted are red. But they still play a minor role compared to Grüner Veltliner, which accounts for over half the plantings. Riesling is significant, with 260 hectares, as is Zweigelt with 307 hectares. Riesling does well on the rocky gneiss soils near Krems itself, whereas Grüner Veltliner is more at home on the loess soils elsewhere. Some of the best known gneiss sites are Pfaffenberg, Grillenparz, Kremsleiten, and the highly regarded Kögl; admired loess sites include Sandgrube, Weinzielberg, and Gebling.
The individual vineyards of the Kremstal may be slightly less well known than those of the Kamptal or Wachau, but a handful are widely encountered as single-vineyard bottlings:
• Gedersdorfer Moosburgerin. Congolomerate soil that’s stony and good for Riesling. Well ventilated, so botrytis is rare.
• Gedersdorfer Tiefenthal. Loess with limestone, and known for Riesling.
• Gedersdorfer Vordernberg. A terraced site with a reputation for Grüner Veltliner.
• Göttweiger Gottschelle. South of the Danube. Loess over glacial conglomerates.
• Göttweiger Oberfeld. Deep loess, with silt, sand, and clay.
• Kremser Freiheit. Loess.
• Kremser Grillenparz. Loess over gneiss, with some chalk, located behind Stein. Stony and south facing.
• Kremser Kögl. At 250 metres; primary rock with worn schist beneath a thin layer of calcareous sand and loess. Known for Riesling, and gives
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Tucked between the Weinviertel and Wagram to the east, and the Kremstal to the west, the Kamptal is geographically quite a large zone, with 3,907 hectares under vine. Grüner Veltliner is by far the most important grape variety, accounting for just over half of all plantings. Riesling, surprisingly, occupies only 385 hectares, far less than Zweigelt with its 536 hectares. Kamptal is often compared with its neighbour Kremstal, as both are bastions of Grüner Veltliner. Some have claimed that Kamptal is slightly warmer, making it possible to ripen red varieties, but others, such as Michael Moosbrugger of Schloss Gobelsburg, find no empirical evidence for this. It is, however, less humid, so botrytis is infrequent. There is also little difference in annual rainfall: Langenlois and Krems receive about the same amount, which is slightly higher than in the Wachau.
The region takes its name from the River Kamp, which roughly bisects the valley from north to south. Most of the vineyards are on gentle slopes or on terraces overlooking the town of Langenlois to the south. The soils are quite varied: there is a good deal of loess, as in Wagram to the east, but also primary rock and conglomerates on some higher sites, while lower down and closer to the Danube there is more loess and loam. Riesling delivers powerful wines on primary rock, while Grüner Veltliner thrives on loess and loam. As in the neighbouring Weinviertel, nights can be cool and this wide diurnal range preserves acidity in the white grapes, giving wines of great vibrancy. Langenlois is the best known town, but other villages with famous vineyards include Zöbing just to the north, Gobelsburg, Kammern, and Strass. The latter’s vineyards are almost entirely composed of loess soils, and this is the most westerly outpost of Roter Veltliner.
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the wines. Almost all vineyards lie between 200 and 400 metres above sea level, and are either planted on slopes or terraced.
The northern part of Traisental, around Wagram and Franzhausen, has deep loess soils that give wines, especially from Grüner Veltliner, that are quite similar to those from the Wagram region north of the Danube. These are wines of immediate appeal, marked by opulence rather than high acidity and structure. This zone is also warmer than the more southerly parts of the valley, thanks to proximity to the Danube.
Moving south down the valley, to the villages of Reichersdorf and Inzersdorf, there is more limestone and gravel in the soil, with topsoils of varying depths. This soil type is usually known as Konglomerat. These wines tend to be more austere than those grown on loess, and need more time in bottle to become fully expressive. But this is relative, and even wines from Konglomerat can often be drunk young with pleasure.
The DAC system came to Traisental in 2006, but only for Grüner Veltliner and Riesling. The rules are the same as those for Kremstal and Kamptal. Classic wines must be at least 12% abv and with no overt wood influence; Reserves must be at least 13% and wood influence is acceptable. Reserves must also be bottled a few months later than Classics. This means that other varieties, such as Weissburgunder, must be released as Niederösterreich rather than Traisental wines. By and large growers seem satisfied with DAC in their region, believing that it has helped it to win more recognition from consumers and thus market presence. This is of some importance, since most of the wines are sold within Austria.
Tom Dockner
theyern. www.docknertom.at 18 hectares. 100,000 bottles.
After studying in Krems and working in Piedmont, the youthful Tom Dockner, who was born in 1982, returned to his family property in 2007, taking over from his father Gerhard three years later. With vineyards in Theyern, Inzersdorf, and Nussdorf, he works with a range of soils, from loess to limestone. It’s an estate dominated by Grüner Veltliner, and Riesling was only planted here in 2003. The vineyards are among the highest in the region, at 280 to 380 metres.
Tom Dockner gave the property a complete makeover, introducing a range of young fresh wines simply called ‘Tom’, while single vineyard
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Klosterneuburg is home to one of Austria’s astonishing baroque monasteries, although the present vast structure is only a fraction of the building originally planned. It is well worth visiting. The monastery also houses Austria’s leading wine school, and many of the country’s top winemakers have passed through its halls and labs. It is also a significant producer.
Another reason for Wagram’s relative obscurity is that, like regions such as Traisental, it once formed part of the even larger and more amorphous region known as Donauland. In 2007 Wagram claimed its own identity. Fels is the largest commune, with about 800 hectares under vine, but villages such as Feuersbrunn, Kirchberg, and Grossriedenthal rival it for quality.
Anton Bauer
Feuersbrunn. www.antonbauer.at
30 hectares. 120,000 bottles.
Bauer is tall, serious, and quietly spoken, and an extremely accomplished and fastidious winemaker. About half his production is of red wines. Now in his late forties, he trained with Georges Duboeuf in Beaujolais. The best Grüner Veltliners, from sites such as Rosenberg and Spiegel, complete their ageing in large casks, whereas the Grande Reserve – magnificent in 2013 and 2016 – is aged entirely in oval casks. The style of the Veltliners tends to be broad shouldered, without any trace of heaviness. For my taste the Grand Reserve can lack some of the vigour and tension that the single-vineyard wines have in spades. The Riesling ‘Alte Reben’ is very fine too, if not quite at the level of the Grüner Veltliners.
As for the reds, the 2013 Pinot Noir was pallid, but the 2012 and 2015 Reserve Private Selection are sleek, polished, and complex.
Stefan Bauer
königsbrunn. www.weingutbauer.at 12 hectares. 60,000 bottles. Stefan Bauer took over the family estate from his parents in 2000. Of the Grüner Veltliners I have tasted from here, the 2013 Hutzler Reserve (his top old-vine bottling) has shown the most complexity, with mango and orange-rind aromas, and its considerable power is cut by the fine acidity on the finish. The suave 2015 Hutzler Reserve is of similar quality.
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The sprawling Weinviertel is more a jumble of subregions than a single region with a firm identity. There are 13,860 hectares planted, farmed by 7,000 growers. Three-quarters of the vines are white. It has pinned its identity to the dominance of Grüner Veltliner in the region as it occupies about half of the vineyard surface, while leaving plenty of room for other varieties. The Weinviertel is Austria’s largest wine region, taking in the vast area between Vienna, the Danube, the Czech border to the north, and the Slovak border to the east. Between east and west lies a distance of 80 kilometres. The topography varies from gently undulating to flat. Historically, this was a region of polyculture – mixed farming – and estates would own cattle, poultry, and wheat fields as well as vineyards. It is only since the 1980s or so that estates began to abandon polyculture in favour of dedicated wine production.
Even then the Weinviertel was known for bulk wines, often sold to cooperatives. Although that market has greatly diminished, there are still significant sales of basic Grüner Veltliner and other varieties to regions such as Kamptal and Kremtal, where it re-emerges as ‘Niederösterreich’ wines. Today the only surviving local cooperative is at Wolkersdorf. For ambitious growers who have taken over the family estate in recent years, the future should be bright. As older hobby and weekend growers retire, their vineyards are easily snapped up by expansionist neighbours who wish to produce good wine in more substantial volumes. Because of the size of the region, generalisations about microclimates and terroir are impossible. In the northern part, the climate tends to be dry, with warm days and cold nights, prompted by cool air moving south from the Bohemian Massif. Over in the east, the climate is warmer and
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This is another region that in 1993 was carved out of the almost meaningless Donauland region, which stretched from Kremstal to close to the Slovak border. Carnuntum lies just south of the Danube east of Vienna. The river flows through the very fertile Vienna basin, but the vineyards lie on slopes with poorer soil.
It takes its name from a Roman city and imperial residence. In its heyday Carnuntum had 70,000 residents and was far larger than Vienna. Whereas the Roman remains within Vienna tend to be hidden in the basements of later houses, the ruins of Carnuntum, such as the imposing Heathen’s Gate, are clearly visible above ground. As for the nearby vineyards, a century ago they were composed of Gemischter Satz sites, with white varieties dominant: Müller-Thurgau, Neuburger, Sylvaner, Muskateller, and other grapes. It remained that way into the 1970s, and the wines had no special reputation. Any reds planted in Carnuntum were Portuguieser and St Laurent.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s the vogue for red wines within Austria was booming, so growers planted more red varieties. Zweigelt was easier to grow, and more generous, than St Laurent, so plantings spread. Twenty-five years ago Walter Glatzer’s estate was 95 per cent white; today it is 70 per cent red. Growers admit that global warming has made it easier to ripen red varieties.
Today Carnuntum has some 906 hectares of vineyards; Zweigelt is easily the most important variety, and there are about 90 hectares of Blaufränkisch. Moreover the proportion of red grapes is steadily growing. Grüner Veltliner is the most important white variety. White-wine production remains surprisingly high, probably because many growers
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Ample archaeological evidence shows that the Romans were producing wines in the Burgenland so as to supply their large settlements in Carnuntum and Vienna. The area around the Neusiedlersee lake later became renowned for its sweet wines – not just the village of Rust, famous for its Ausbruch since 1614. The village of Donnerskirchen claims to have produced a TBA-style wine in 1526.
Until 1921 this eastern region was part of Austria-Hungary. After the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles, Hungary became an independent nation and the boundaries were redrawn. The residents voted to remain within Austria, and politicians formally adopted its current name of Burgenland. Its wines had no great reputation, as there was little savoir-faire among the growers. The principal grapes were Hungarian, and the wines were mostly exported to Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland. When I first visited the region thirty years ago there were still vestiges of Hungarian culture and a few obscure wine styles were based on Hungarian tradition, though they have all but vanished. The major grape varieties of the Burgenland are also found across the border in the Sopron region of Hungary. After a while typically Hungarian varieties such as Furmint went into a decline in the Burgenland, and other more ‘typically’ Austrian varieties such as Welschriesling and Neuburger took their place.
The Burgenland stagnated after it became part of Austria. The economic and social difficulties of the 1920s and 1930s impeded development, and after 1945 it was under Russian occupation, which halted any investment in the vineyards. After the Russians withdrew in 1956 there was some fresh investment. There were some great vintages, such