Getting to Know Austrian Wines
Austria boasts more than 40 grape varieties and 17 specific winegrowing regions, with an abundance of soils, climates and producers. But few people are familiar with many Austrian wines beyond its signature varietal, grüner veltliner. A master class held earlier this year at the French-Austrian restaurant Koloman in New York shed some light on the country’s unique wine offerings.
For starters, Austria produces 240 million liters of wine and exports 60 million to 70 million liters, according to Christian Zechmeister, the managing director of Wein Burgenland, the country’s most easterly wine growing area. Its top export market by far is Germany, followed by Switzerland, The Netherlands, the U.S. and Canada.
Three-quarters of the vineyards in Austria are planted with white wine grapes, said Zechmeister. About a third (32.3%) of planted grapes in Austria are gruner veltliner, a natural crossing of the traminer and St. Georgen grape. With versions ranging from spicy and peppery versions to those with stone-fruit notes, “the grüner veltliner grape can really show the origin and soil in a nice way,” he said.
While grüner veltliner is made in several different styles, the three main versions are light, classic and reserva. The light styles, which are easy drinking and lower alcohol yet juicy and flavorful, “hardly ever make it out of Austria,” Zechmeister noted. “Austrians drink wine relatively young — even the reds. It’s our style.”
The classic style of grüner veltliner offers more texture and body while maintaining crisp freshness that evolves into a long finish and makes “a beautiful pairing partner for any dish,” Zechmeister said. Reserve grüner veltliners are fully ripened wines from classic appellations and good values that can age well.
Another Austrian white grape is welschriesling, which boasts higher acidity, spiciness and fresh fruit flavors, such as green apple and citrus. Some winemakers have been leaving welschriesling on the lees (in contact with the dead yeast or residual yeast and other particles left over from the fermentation process) longer, resulting in wines with more complexity.
Furmint, a late-ripening white variety, can be sensitive and difficult to cultivate, although Zechmeister noted that furmint production has been increasing. The grape is a preferred choice for making sweet wines.
Native reds
Austria began a new red wine revolution 40 years ago, when some producers started applying advanced winemaking techniques to imported and native varieties. The country today produces three main categories of red: indigenous varieties, international varieties, and cuvees.
Zweigelt is considered Austria’s most important red grape varietal, Zechmeister said. Created in the 1920s, it’s a crossing between blaufränkisch and St. Laurent grapes. Zweigelt ranges from easy-drinking, unoaked wines to rich and full-bodied single-vineyard wines aged in small oak barrels.
Blaufrankisch, an ancient Austrian variety that grows mainly in Burgenland, is “a thoroughly central European variety,” Zechmeister said. Blaufrankisch presents more acidity and tannin than zweigelt, and has great aging potential.
A late-ripening variety, blaufrankisch produces deep aromas of fruits of the forest, cherry and herbal spice, while the taste profile is focused and lively, with its characteristic high acidity. Blaufränkisch can yield wines with dense structure and prominent tannins.
Sparklers and sweets
Sparkling wine, known as sekt in Austria (as in Germany), has become more important in recent years and has been selling well for producers, Zechmeister said. About a decade ago, the country established a three-tier quality pyramid to define the origin and production values of classifications of Austrian sekt.
At the top is Sekt Austria Grosse Reserve (PDO), for which grapes must be harvested by hand and pressed within a single municipality; produced exclusively by traditional bottle fermentation with a minimum of 36 months maturation on the lees.
The next is level is Sekt Austria Reserve (PDO). Grapes must be harvested by hand and pressed within a single federal state, and the wine must be produced exclusively by traditional bottle fermentation, with a minimum of 18 months maturation on the lees.
The base of the pyramid is Sekt Austria (PDO). Grapes must be harvested within a single federal state, but any sekt production method is permitted. The wines require minimum of nine months maturation on the lees for bottle fermentation or six months for the Charmat method, or fermentation in stainless-steel tanks.
Austria also makes several sweet wines and follows Germany’s ripeness classification system that indicates how ripe (and how sweet) the grapes were at harvest. Spätlese or “late harvest” means the grapes are picked later, resulting in higher sugar and riper flavors.
Auslese (select harvest) grapes are very ripe, sometimes with noble rot (the Botrytis cinerea fungus, which results in complex, concentrated and age-worthy wines). Botrytized wines are richer and usually sweet.
For Beerenauslese (BA), “berry select harvest,” individual botrytized grapes are handpicked to create intense, lusciously sweet wines with honeyed complexity. Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA), or “dried berry select harvest,” uses only fully shriveled, botrytized grapes for highly concentrated, syrupy and rare Austrian wines.
Finally, Eiswein (ice wine) grapes are harvested and pressed while frozen, typically during the night or in the early hours of the morning. This concentrates the sugar and acidity for wines with pure, bright sweetness without botrytis influence.
If you’re seeking a good bottle of Austrian wine, look at the cap. A red and white banderole cap serves as a guarantee that the bottle contains high-quality wine from Austria’s protected wine-growing regions. “We do have to focus on quality because we won’t be able to compete with larger winemakers” on price, said Zechmeister.
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