Austria
Cool continental
A cool-climate country of Grüner Veltliner, Riesling and Blaufränkisch, with strict quality rules built after the scandal of 1985.
Overview
About Austria
Austria has around 48,000 hectares of vines, almost all in the east, in Lower Austria, Burgenland, Styria and Vienna. Grüner Veltliner, its signature white, covers about a third of the vineyards, followed by Welschriesling and Riesling, while Zweigelt and Blaufränkisch lead the reds.
In 1985 it was discovered that some growers had adulterated sweet wine with diethylene glycol. Austria responded with some of the toughest wine laws in Europe, and then rebuilt its reputation around dry, precise wines from single vineyards.
Where is a grape grown?
Hover a marker to see what's grown there, and click it to open that place. On a touch screen, tap once to preview and again to open. Bigger markers have more grapes linked to them.
Austria
The land
Climate & terroir
Climate
Cool continental
Cold winters and warm summers, with warm Pannonian air from the east meeting cool air from the Alps and the Czech uplands. The big difference between day and night keeps the wines fresh.
Terroir & soils
What the vines grow in
Very varied: primary rock (gneiss, granite) in the Wachau, loess in the Danube regions and the Weinviertel, limestone and slate in Burgenland, and volcanic soils in Styria.
Go deeper
How the wines are classified
Austrian wines are classified by ripeness and by region, and increasingly by named regional types called DAC.
DAC
Districtus Austriae Controllatus, a regional appellation with a defined typical style; the Weinviertel was the first, in 2002.
Qualitätswein
Quality wine from a named region and permitted grapes.
Prädikatswein
Sweet wines classed by must weight, from Spätlese to Trockenbeerenauslese.
Landwein
Country wine from a wider area.
Within Austria
Regions
Burgenland
Austria's warm, red-wine state on the Hungarian border, with Blaufränkisch, Zweigelt and the lake-side sweet wines of the Neusiedlersee.
Lower Austria
Austria's largest wine state, around Vienna and the Danube, with the Wachau, Kamptal, Kremstal, Wagram, Weinviertel and the Thermenregion.
Vienna
One of the few capitals with a working wine region inside its limits, known for field-blend white wine and hillside wine taverns.
What's grown here
Grapes
Grapes linked to Austria or to a place within it. Each grape's page links back here.
Blaufränkisch
Grown in Burgenland.
Grüner Veltliner
Grown in Lower Austria, Vienna, and Wachau.
Neuburger
Grown in Burgenland and Lower Austria.
Olaszrizling
Grown in Burgenland.
Riesling
Grown in Vienna.
Roter Veltliner
Grown in Lower Austria.
Rotgipfler
Grown in Lower Austria.
Saint Laurent
Grown in Burgenland and Lower Austria.
St. Georgen
Grown in Burgenland.
Zierfandler
Grown in Lower Austria.
Zweigelt
Grown in Burgenland and Lower Austria.