Terraced vineyards in the Kremstal region of Austria. Österreicher Traditionsweingüter
Austria has launched a new classification of top vineyards. The classification is land-based and covers most Austrian wine regions*. It is named Traditionsweingüter Österreich.
‘Weingut’ is Austrian (or German) for a wine-growing estate.
The four rieslings and four grüners I tasted were all high quality, to my palate, rating between 91 and 96 points.
To date, there is only one level of classified vineyards: Erste Lage, the equivalent of First Growth. But there are plans to extend the classification upwards in the future, with some vineyards (possibly only 1 or 2%) being elevated to the equivalent of Grand Cru.
The classification was recently unveiled to the Sydney wine trade and media at a tasting conducted by Austrian winemaker Markus Huber.
My notes on the eight rieslings and eight grüner veltliners tasted are on The Real Review now.
If you look up my review of one of the finest wines I tasted, a Bründlmayer riesling, you will see:
Weingut Bründlmayer Ried Heiligenstein 1ötw Riesling Alte Reben 2021, Kamptal.
Allow me to translate.
This wine is a riesling from the highly regarded Bründlmayer winery, in the Kamptal region, made from grapes grown on the Heiligenstein, one of Austria’s most exalted vineyards. Ried is the equivalent of ‘cru’ in French—in other words, it’s a single-vineyard wine. Alte reben means old vines.
1ötw is the critical bit: it’s shorthand for First Österreicher Traditionsweingüter, the classified level of traditional Austrian estates—or what would in France
This Article was originally published on The Real Review
