238 tasters from 20 countries attended the Single Vineyard Summit, the grand preview sampling of Austria’s single-vineyard wines. This event has now established itself as a fixed date on the international wine calendar, as the development of thrilling wines of specified origin has been particularly dynamic in Austria for several years now.
The Österreichische Traditionsweingüter (ÖTW – Kamptal, Kremstal, Traisental, Wagram, Wien/Vienna and Carnuntum) have been doing pioneering work in this area for over 20 years, having ushered in the process with their classification of vineyard sites in the Danube region. They introduced the symbol 1ÖTW, to make consumers aware of the specific details of outstanding vineyards, which wines harvested from a total of 89 vineyards between Kremstal and Carnuntum are allowed to display. In 2010, a dozen international wine critics were invited to taste the wines from these Erste Lage sites for the first time. This initially small event developed year after year and became an important date for the international wine world, so the ÖTW subsequently invited other associations to share the platform.
With Eisenberg and Leithaberg – for the third time since 2019 – two regions from Burgenland noted for depth of character exhibited the fruit of their vineyards, moulded by the slate soils. For the first time this year, the Steirische Terroir- und Klassik Weingüter (STK), which has been promoting the profiles of their vineyards in the south of Austria with great dedication for years, joined the Single Vineyard Summit and thus enriched the tasting with an essential and distinctive facet of Austrian wine.
Pssst! In this silent tasting, wine experts were offered ideal conditions for highly concentrated work, so that they could gain a comprehensive impression of the various winegrowing regions whose single vineyard wines will (mostly) be released to the market soon. As small as Austria may be, regional conditions under which wine is produced in the land are particularly diverse. The terroir spectrum ranges from cool Riesling zones on the Danube, Pannonian-continental red wine vineyards and mineral-rich meagre soils of primordial rock to deep loess, heavy volcanic rock and light coral limestone on the steepest slopes.
Austria’s single vineyard wines meet the microscope – opinions of the experts:
Preview
The Single Vineyard Summit 2022 will take place from 5–9 September 2022.
