It seems like only yesterday that serious Austrian wines first achieved media recognition (we're fairly sure that New York-based critic Steve Tanzer was the first to give them their due back in 1994). Prior to that date, the only mention of Austrian wine in the U.S. wine press had been the 1985 scandal in which a number of Austria's largest négociants were caught adding diethylene glycol (the primary ingredient of antifreeze!) to their wines to raise the alcohol content and make them resemble glycerin-rich sweet wines. In the   More

It seems like only yesterday that serious Austrian wines first achieved media recognition (we're fairly sure that New York-based critic Steve Tanzer was the first to give them their due back in 1994). Prior to that date, the only mention of Austrian wine in the U.S. wine press had been the 1985 scandal in which a number of Austria's largest négociants were caught adding diethylene glycol (the primary ingredient of antifreeze!) to their wines to raise the alcohol content and make them resemble glycerin-rich sweet wines. In the wake of the disappearance of these firms from the scene, two regions not implicated in the scandal, the Wachau and South Styria, emerged as some of the best sources of truly high quality wine. Other regions soon attracted attention as well, and long-dormant estates began to get serious about producing quality wine from the best varieties and clones. In addition, the focus subsequently shifted to making dry wines, rather than Austrian copies of German wine.

All of Austria's wine comes from a crescent along the eastern portion of the country. At the northwestern corner of the crescent (northwest of Vienna) lies the Wachau, Austria's greatest region for dry white wines. It is here that Riesling and the indigenous Grüner Veltliner reach their apogees. Both grapes, but especially Riesling, can produce powerful dry whites here with as much weight, cut, and minerality as any Corton-Charlemagne. The Kremstal-Kamptal just to the northeast of the Wachau is not quite as mountainous, and the quality of the wines is much less homogeneous. And just to the immediate southeast of Kremstal, south of the river Danube, lies Traisental. Wine country also extends farther east, and continues in a gentle clockwise curve that encompasses Burgenland and Steiermark. Right in the heart of the plains bordering Hungary and Slovenia is Mittelburgenland, and this is Austria's red wine country, with 95% of the vineyards planted to red wine varieties. Traditional wines such as Blaufränkisch, Saint Laurent, and Zweigelt dominate production, but varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are being seen with greater regularity.   Less