A sweet wine from the 2015 vintage, alcohol-fortifed in the style of port wine, was the last tasted wine in the master class “Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt re-thought”, which was conducted jointly mid-October by Thomas Curtius, MW (Master of Wine), and Georg Schweitzer WA, (Wine Academic and Managing Director of Wein Burgenland).
Austria’s number 1 grape variety, which can be found on almost a third of Austria’s vineyards: Grüner Veltliner. Treated a bit neglected up to now – only twice a Trockenbeerenauslese
The name Lentsch can be found often around Lake Neusiedl. So I first thought of the Gasthaus zur Dankbarkeit, where I had already eaten very well and also enjoyed wine of the Lentsch
The grape variety Muscat Ottonel delivers wines with aromas of muscat grapes, citrus and flowers. The majority of the grape variety is planted in
Schilcher is the name given to the rosé-colored shimmering wine of western Styria, which is made from the red grape variety Blauer Wildbacher. From this variety mainly still wine is produced, only about 3% of the Blauer Wildbacher grapes harvested from more than 360 hectares are made into sparkling wine and even much less into red wine.
I made my first acquaintance with wines of the Winery oberGuess in May 2004 on a hike with Evi and Udo to the Remschnigg Alm. From their last stay, they brought me the Sauvignon Blanc Ried am Walts 2017 from the winery.
Rust is known for his outbreak, his storks and the legendary Blaufränkisch Mariental 1986 by Ernst Triebaumer, who was the winner in three of the most important world wide red wine competitions and so significantly contributed making the Blaufränkisch internationally known.
In Rust, wine is cultivated on different soils. There are crystalline rock, sediments of shell limestone, clay, gravel and also loess. The wines around Rust flourish in an climate, which is protected by the Leithagebirge west from the westerly winds and is also significantly influenced by the water surfaces of the eastern Neusiedlersee. Despite this climate, some winters are cold enough to produce ice wine, though not … Read more ...
North and south of the Danube lies the Austrian winegrowing area Wagram. In the larger northern part of the wine thrives mainly on loess and sandy gravel soils. As in all of Austria, the Gruner Veltliner with a cultivated area of 1,330 hectares is also here the number one. Yet there is no other austrian winegrowing area in which more of the almost similarly named variety Roter Veltliner is cultivated than in Wagram – 82 hectares. With Gruner Veltliner, the autochthonous grape variety Roter Veltliner has nothing to do, it is known rather as crossing partner of some other Austrian autochthonous varieties such as Neuburger, Rotgipfler or Zierfandler… Read more ...
In other words: Are matured, ie older Trockenbeerenauslese better than those from younger vintages? Several reasons have led to this question, the most important is probably that I think the sugar content of Auslesen seems to be optimal. Another important reason is the fact that my wine friend Hans stores a 
lot of sweet wines, including many old TBAs in his wine cellar, from which we time by time we taste some. As a result of this fact, six of the eight TBAs discussed so far in the blog were 15 years or older. For me five of them met the criteria for an excellent wine.
Finally led to this … Read more ...
“Evi and I are going on vacation to southern Styria at the winery Tauss” my friend Udo told me. I, too, had been on vacation in the winery Tauss and bought wine there – the last, recently opened bottle of the red Traminer macerated and fermented on the grape skins in 2006 has been sensationally good. Only one sweet wine of Tauss was slumbering in the wine cellar, a 2002 Trockenbeerenauslese of Pinot Gris, in German named Grauburgunder. Already almost 10 years ago, during our nearly obligatory annual short holidays in southern Styria, we realized hat the wines of Roland Tauss are characterized more by secondary aromas … Read more ...