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A Beginner’s Guide to Grüner Veltliner from Wachau
Welcome to Wachau, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the cozy home of Grüner Veltliner, Austria‘s special white wine grape. It’s been chilling in the beautiful Danube Valley for ages, creating wines that go from light and zesty to rich and fancy. They all have this cool mix of lively acidity and tasty fruit flavors. Grüner Veltliner wines are like…
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Is Riesling German or Austrian?
Riesling is a white grape with high acidity and susceptible to Botrytis (noble rot). It is very aromatic and the fruit characteristics vary according to ripeness : green fruit and citrus aromas to stone fruit, tropical fruit and dried fruits. It can be harvested and vinified in many ways. Sweet Rieslings can be achieved by interrupting the fermentation or by…
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What is Pinot Noir called in Austria?
Austria has a lot of local grape varieties and focuses mainly on growing these. However, in order to increase sales, it is also good to produce wines from international grape varieties known from the everyday drinker (ie client). However, as nothing is simple in Austria, Pinot Noir isn’t called Pinot Noir…. So what is Pinot Noir called in Austria? Pinot…
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What is Smaragd wine?
In the Wachau region, there was no DAC for quite some time but top-growers created Vinea Wachau Nobilis Districtus (abbr Vinea Wachau). It started in 2018 with 24 members and has a three-tier system. Quick reminder on what a DAC is. If you want to know more, feel free to check out my post on Austria’s DAC. A DAC (Districtus…
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What is Austria’s signature red grape?
Austria is best known for the quality of its white wines, made from both native Grüner Veltliner and Riesling. However, it also produces excellent red wines from local grape varieties such as Zweigelt and Blaufränkisch, as well as dessert wines made from welschriesling. In Austria, grape varieties don’t respect political boarders. If you want to know why, check out my…
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Is Blaufränkisch Pinot Noir?
While Austria is renowned for its high-quality white wines made from native Grüner Veltliner and Riesling grapes, it also boasts exceptional red wines from indigenous grape varieties. They are named Zweigelt, Blaufränkisch and Saint Laurent. I usually compare Saint-Laurent to Pinot Noir, but following several discussions with friends and tastings, some have compared Blaufränkisch to Pinot Noir. So, is Blaufränkisch…
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Which is better Blaufränkisch or Zweigelt?
Austria allows the use of 26 white grape varieties and 14 red grape varieties for the production of Qualitätswein, Prädikatswein, and Landwein. Over the past 20 years, the proportion of red wines has doubled and now accounts for about one-third of Austria’s nearly 46,500 hectares of vineyard area. In addition to internationally renowned grape varieties like Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay,…
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What does St Laurent wine taste like?
Austria permits 26 types of white grapes and 14 types of red grapes for the production of Qualitätswein, Prädikatswein, and Landwein. In the last two decades, the proportion of red wines has doubled and currently represents a third of Austria’s almost 46,500 hectares vineyard area. Not only has Austria globally renowned grape varieties like Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Muscat Blanc…
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Grauburgunder vs Weissburgunder
Grauburgunder translates as Pinot Gris and Weissburgunder as Pinot Blanc. These are two different grape varieties. As we will see, they have different flavor profiles and it’s best to know how each one tastes in order to choose your wines accordingly to your taste. These flavor profiles impacts food pairing of course. Last, understanding these differences will provide insight into…
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Blauburgunder vs Pinot Noir
The tradition of Pinot Noir in Austria has been long-standing since the 14th century when Cistercian monks brought the vines to Mönchhof. However, the warmer climate in zones like Gols means that the vines require protection from excessive sun exposure or deleafing. While Austria’s Pinot Noir may differ from Burgundy‘s due to the unique growing conditions, the long tradition and…
