While there are plenty of high-end Alpine ski resorts with fine restaurants, one in particular is positioning itself as the go-to for well-heeled wine enthusiasts.
That place is Lech am Arlberg in the Austrian alps, situated between Innsbruck and Zurich airports, and near St Anton, which is famous for its challenging pistes and vibrant après ski. What sets Lech apart is its focus on providing an extensive, upscale and broad wine offer via its top 14 hotels, which actually compete in a ‘Best Bottle Award’ each year, which sees the winning outlet take home a trophy for serving the highest-scoring example of a particular wine style – following judging by critics and local sommeliers. Such establishments stand out for their restaurants featuring large wine lists with not only an excellent offering of Austria’s finest wines, including mature examples, often bottled in large formats, but also a huge range of top labels from the world’s classic regions, such as Tuscany and Bordeaux, as well as Napa and Burgundy. As I found out earlier this week, one of these outlets, the Hotel Burg, which is located in Oberlech – a car-less resort located a short gondola ride above Lech – has a cellar featuring as many as 4,500 different labels, amounting to 70,000 bottles. These are worth an estimated €5 million, according to its head sommelier, Herman Lankmaier, who tells me that he regularly opens rare and valuable bottles during the ski season for a set of regulars who come to the
This Article was originally published on The Drink Business - Fine Wine
