Vievinum 2026 — Austria

Top Wines by Tasting Flight

Tasted and reviewed by John Szabo MS

Every two years, VieVinum takes over Vienna’s Hofburg palace for what is billed as the largest showcase of Austrian wine, and quite possibly the most elegant wine fair in the world. The 2026 edition ran from May 16 to 18, but for invited international guests the serious work began the day before at the Flight Tasting, held at Palais Niederösterreich on Herrengasse. Organized by Austrian Wine under the banner “Terroir Talks,” the seated tasting presented more than 120 wines in 22 flights, each built to show how origin shapes a wine’s character, with themes ranging from “Grüner Veltliner: Shaped by Origin” to “Limestone & Slate: Shaping Structure” and “Styrian Sauvignon Reloaded.” What follows are my top wines from each flight, with scores, notes and a few observations on what the line-ups revealed.

VieVinum 2026: Impressionen der Flightverkostung © Austrian Wine / Philipp Lipiarski

Note that the reviews are seriously abridged; for far more background and technical details on any wine, paste the name into the search field on WineAlign. And see all wines reviewed at John’s Vievinum Tasting Flight 2026.

Sparkling Austria

Austrian Sekt has quietly become one of the most compelling sparkling categories in Europe, and what unites the top wines here is time — a minimum three years on the lees for Loimer’s Grosse Reserve, nearly a decade for Jurtschitsch’s Blanc de Noirs. The Sekt Austria pyramid, with its legally mandated lees-ageing minimums, rewards exactly this patience, and you can taste the difference.

The second common thread is dryness. Three of the four leaders are bottled brut nature or zero dosage, and they don’t need the crutch — there’s enough flavour weight and autolytic complexity here to carry a wine without sugar.

Note too the organic and biodynamic thread running through the group. This is not incidental in a category where the base wine has nowhere to hide.

93 – Loimer 2020 Langenlois Sekt Austria Grosse Reserve Brut Nature Blanc de Blancs, Niederösterreich
Fermented in neutral barrels and aged 36 months on the lees, this brut nature is intensely toasty, with a rich, creamy texture and ripe yellow and orange-fleshed orchard fruit.

93 – Ebner-Ebenauer 2018 Sekt Extra Trocken Blanc de Noirs L’Autrichienne Zero Dosage, Österreich
A Blanc de Noirs from calcareous loess, notably toasty from long lees ageing. Zero dosage keeps it bone dry and crisp but far from shrill, with real weight, complexity and excellent length.

93 – Jurtschitsch 2013 Sekt Austria Grosse Reserve Brut Nature Blanc de Noirs, Niederösterreich
Nearly ten years on the lees yields a marvellously complex, concentrated sparkling, wild cherry mingling with hot buttered toast and red currant jam. Superb length. Fine wine.

90 – Schlumberger Wein- & Sektkellerei 2018 Sekt Austria Reserve Brut Chardonnay, Niederösterreich
Surprisingly youthful for a 2018, round and creamy with good citric intensity and length above the mean. An impressive cuvée from this large, historic house.

Grüner Veltliner across Lower Austria

A candid flight, and one worth including precisely because it didn’t reach the heights. Nothing cleared 90 points: in a hot 2024 and a ripe 2023 the fruit got away, and alcohol and residual sugar filled the space that acidity should have occupied. This is what the vintage did to growers who didn’t have elevation, aspect or cool-air drainage working in their favour.

Gschweicher’s Primary Rocks, from 80-year-old vines on barren Urgestein, should sing on paper; in the glass the heat shows as softer acids and almost none of the varietal white pepper. Proidl’s Generation X lands at 14.5% alcohol with 6.5 g/l residual — effectively off-dry, though the loess-derived creaminess is genuine.

The lesson for anyone buying 2024 Grüner Veltliner from Lower Austria: check the site before you check the label.

89 – Gschweicher 2024 Grüner Veltliner Primary Rocks, Niederösterreich
From 80-plus-year-old vines in the hot 2024 vintage, rich and notably ripe, with yellow orchard fruit, little varietal pepper, soft acids and a touch of phenolic bitterness on the finish.

89 – Familie Proidl 2023 Grüner Veltliner Generation X, Niederösterreich
Picked late and finished at 14.5% with 6.5g/l RS, this presents like an off-dry late harvest, creamy from the loess soils but short on cut. Try it with a mixed cheese board.

VieVinum 2026: Impressionen der Flightverkostung © Austrian Wine / Philipp Lipiarski

Grüner Veltliner: Shaped by Origin

Three sites, three geological signatures, and a useful reminder that Grüner Veltliner is among the most faithful transmitters of soil in the white wine world. Markus Huber’s Alte Setzen, on the Traisental’s limestone-conglomerate under loess, delivers exactly what that combination promises: stony, fruit-shy, saline. Seher’s Feuerberg in the northern Weinviertel gives a stonier, more citric read, while Gattinger’s Weitenberg brings Wachau primary rock and Smaragd ripeness to bear.

The two 2024s are instructive: Seher held onto sharp acids and mineral cut, while Gattinger’s is the fuller, more generous expression, leaning on CO2 and a touch of salinity for lift.

93 – Huber Markus 2023 Grüner Veltliner Ried Alte Setzen 1ÖTW Bio, Traisental DAC
Classically styled, stony and fruit-shy the way it should be, with saliva-drawing acids and notable salinity. Citrus peel, tonic and tamarind notes; very good to excellent length. Best 2027–2035.

91 – Seher Wolfgang 2024 Grüner Veltliner Obermarkersdorf Ried Feuerberg 1ÖTW Reserve, Weinviertel DAC
Surprisingly fresh for 2024, with sharp acids, a mineral-stony feel and tingling citrus fruit. The finish lingers impressively. A big success for the vintage; drink now–2032.

90 – Gattinger 2024 Grüner Veltliner Ried Weitenberg Weissenkirchen Smaragd, Wachau DAC
Substantial and large-scaled, with ripe yellow-fleshed fruit and a hint of sweetness; lively CO2 and gentle salinity lift the low acids. Representative of the vintage; best 2027–2032.

Grüner Veltliner: Youth & Tension

Tension is the word, and in hot 2024 it was hard-won. Each of the top three found a different route to freshness: Tegernseerhof’s steep Höhereck answers with density and saliva-inducing sapidity rather than raw acidity; Dockner coaxed genuine crunch from Traisental limestone-conglomerate, bone dry at a moderate 13%; and Högl’s Schön had geography on its side — one of the Wachau’s most northerly, elevated and coolest parcels.

The lesson: in warm years site selection does the heavy lifting. The wines that hold their line are almost always the ones planted where the nights are cold.

Drinking windows cluster in the 2027–2036 range. None of these are wines to open tonight.

93 – Tegernseerhof GmbH & Co OG 2024 Grüner Veltliner Ried Höhereck Dürnstein Smaragd, Wachau DAC
Deep, dense and concentrated in the hot vintage, with saliva-inducing sapidity and gentle salinity that beg another sip. Excellent length. Top kit; best 2027–2036.

92 – Dockner Tom 2024 Grüner Veltliner Ried Hochschopf 1ÖTW, Traisental DAC
Remarkably fresh for the vintage, bone dry at a moderate 13%, with citric, tonic, lemon-lime peel flavours and crunchy acids. The finish lingers. Best 2027–2035.

90 – Högl GesbR Josef und Georg 2024 Grüner Veltliner Ried Schön Smaragd, Wachau DAC
From one of the Wachau’s coolest, highest parcels, freshness shows even in torrid 2024, on a fullish, generous palate. Lightly candied citrus is advancing quickly; very good length. Best 2027–2032.

Loess Wines: Texture & Depth

Only two wines cleared the bar here, both 2023s at 93. Loess is the least glamorous of Austria’s great soils — wind-blown Ice Age silt rather than dramatic terraced rock — but it holds water, warms readily, and in the right hands gives texture and breadth that primary rock never quite matches.

Malat’s Gottschelle is properly stony, fruit-backwards and chewy. Ott’s Rosenberg, from deep calcareous loess with vines back to 1956 and two winters on the gross lees, is reserved and smoky, exceptional in length.

The 2023 vintage suits this style: enough ripeness for the texture loess wants, enough acid retention to keep it honest. Give both another year or two.

93 – Malat 2023 Grüner Veltliner Ried Gottschelle 1ÖTW, Kremstal DAC
Properly stony-petrolly and fruit-backward, with the right sort of simmering reduction. The palate is tannic-phenolic, grippy and dense, with excellent length. Give it another 1–2 years minimum.

93 – Ott Bernhard 2023 Grüner Veltliner Ried Feuersbrunner Rosenberg 1ÖTW, Wagram DAC
From deep, calcareous loess and vines dating to 1956, this is reserved and smoky, dense and concentrated, with crunchy acids and exceptional length and depth. Best 2027–2035.

Along the Danube

A flight that runs from Weißenkirchen in the Wachau down to the Nussberg above Vienna, united by steep slopes on ancient rock above a river. Knoll’s Loibenberg leads at 95, from a house whose patient, structure-over-opulence style demands six to ten years in bottle — that kind of tension in a Smaragd from a warm site is what marks out the great addresses.

Wieninger’s Nussberger Ulm is the outlier and the delight: a field blend of nine co-planted, co-fermented varieties from 75-year-old vines, sharply delineated and stony — like water running over rocks.

All four are 2023s, a vintage that in this corridor delivered proper definition without the excess of 2024. Matthias Hirtzberger’s Kollmütz was an exciting new discovery for me.

95 – Knoll 2023 Riesling Ried Loibenberg Smaragd, Wachau DAC
Subtle on the nose but intensely flavoured, sapid and saline in the best way, with a tension and vibrancy rarely found in Smaragd from warm sites. Give it time; best from 2028.

94 – Wieninger 2023 Ried Nussberger Ulm 1ÖTW, Wiener Gemischter Satz DAC
Nine co-planted, co-fermented varieties from 75-year-old vines on shell limestone. Tightly wound and very stony, like water over rocks, with light florality, green apple and crunchy acids. Try after 2027.

91 – Hirtzberger Mathias Weinhofmeisterei 2023 Grüner Veltliner Ried Kollmütz Smaragd, Wachau DAC
Subtle on the nose but flavourful on the palate, framed by sharp acids and notable sapidity. Impressive length. An exciting new discovery; best from 2027.

91 – Salomon Undhof 2023 Riesling Ried Kögl 1ÖTW, Kremstal DAC
Sweetly perfumed with apple and lime blossoms, then red cherry blossom and candied lemon-lime on a delicate, balanced palate. Drinking nicely now, or hold into the mid-’30s.

Ried Achleiten: Unique Terroir

If Austria had a Grand Cru register, Achleiten would be on it. Parcels with as little as 40 cm of topsoil over gneiss, amphibolite and slate — what Toni Bodenstein at Prager memorably calls ‘destroyed soil’ — combine with a south-facing aspect and cool air spilling off the Waldviertel to give wines that stay alive for decades.

All six wines cleared 90, and the top two are extraordinary. Rudi Pichler’s Grüner Veltliner at 97 is a marvel of tension in a warm vintage — strict yields, no wood, no malolactic, and a wine of almost painful intensity. Prager’s Riesling at 96 goes the other way, open and broad but remarkably balanced for the year.

It’s also a candid lesson in vintage. Where the great addresses found equilibrium in hot 2024, others tipped over — Jamek’s at 14% with 5 g/l residual, Braun’s pinched and closed. Achleiten rewards precision, and in warm years it punishes anything less.

97 – Rudi Pichler 2024 Grüner Veltliner Ried Achleiten Smaragd, Wachau DAC
Never seeing wood or malolactic, this is a marvel of tension and freshness despite Smaragd ripeness, thick with extract and of seemingly endless length, from lemon zest to orchard fruit and tonic bitters. See again after 2029.

96 – Prager 2024 Riesling Ried Achleiten Smaragd, Wachau DAC
Open and immediate, scented with pear purée, broad and succulent on the palate, with high concentration and exceptional length. Remarkable balance for the hot vintage; best 2028–2036.

92 – Domäne Wachau 2023 Grüner Veltliner Ried Achleiten Smaragd, Wachau DAC
Open, generous and broad-scaled, with creamy-leesy character. It lacks the tension of the best years but will appeal widely. Drink from 2028.

91 – Jamek 2024 Grüner Veltliner Ried Achleiten Weissenkirchen Smaragd, Wachau DAC
Ripe at 14% with 5g/l RS, showing candied cherry slipping into apple purée. Intense and impressive, though the balance is skewed this year; drink over the near to mid-term.

91 – Braun 2024 Riesling Ried Achleiten Weissenkirchen Smaragd, Wachau DAC
Still closed, with a whiff of sulfur and CO2, and a tacky, grippy, somewhat pinched palate. Needs time in bottle; quality wine, if not a top vintage.

90 – Domäne Roland Chan 2022 Riesling Ried Weissenkirchener Achleiten Smaragd, Wachau DAC
Stony and reserved, giving little fruit, with a tacky-gritty texture hardened by CO2. Not the most sophisticated example of this celebrated site.

Wachau: Steep & Iconic

This is the Wachau’s front rank — 98, 97, 96 at the top. Hirtzberger’s Singerriedel, one of the region’s steepest, most northerly and coolest sites, on gneiss and mica-schist above the Spitzer Graben, is already floral and perfumed in 2023, yet with an intensity that borders on painful. Grand cru quality, if the Wachau permitted the term.

F.X. Pichler’s Kellerberg follows at 97, on Ice Age loess over Gföhler gneiss; that it declares only 12.5% alcohol while delivering such weight and gravitas is the story of the wine. Alzinger’s Loibenberg at 96 is the study in understatement, picked late for physiological rather than sugar ripeness.

Two structural notes. F.X. Pichler and Gritsch have left Vinea Wachau and now classify under the Wachau DAC pyramid rather than Federspiel and Smaragd. And Gritsch’s Kalkofen is the flight’s geological curiosity: calcareous bedrock in a primary-rock region, giving a cooler, firmer, more linear Riesling.

98 – Hirtzberger 2023 Riesling Ried Spitzer Singerriedel Smaragd, Wachau DAC
From steep, cool gneiss terraces above the Spitzer Graben, a marvel of perfume: cherry and lemon blossom, apples, pears and apricots. Dry, fleshy and almost painfully intense, with terrific length. Best 2028–2040+.

97 – F.X. Pichler 2024 Grüner Veltliner Ried Kellerberg, Wachau DAC
An explosive, stony essence with a squeeze of fruit. Seriously dense and intense at only 12.5%, with succulent, crunchy acids buoying sun-drenched orchard fruit and a tonic-bitter refinement. Best 2029–2039.

96 – Alzinger 2023 Grüner Veltliner Ried Loibener Loibenberg Smaragd, Wachau DAC
Picked late for physiological ripeness and fermented in acacia, this is tightly wound in the best way; decant if serving soon. Citrus, orchard fruit and a twist of white pepper; superb length. Best from 2028.

93 – Gritsch FJ 2023 Riesling Ried Kalkofen, Wachau DAC
The site’s limestone (Kalk) brings a savoury, mineral profile: attractive perfume, good tension and succulent citric acids, though lees turn the finish slightly sticky. Drink now–2033.

90 – Frischengruber 2023 Grüner Veltliner Ried Kreuzberg Smaragd, Wachau DAC
A notable SO2 twang up front, and acetic creeping in on the palate. Creamy lees texture with woolly grip; concentrated but not fully comfortable. Drink over the near to mid-term.

Great Single Vineyards of Kremstal

Kremstal lives in the Wachau’s shadow, unfairly, and Nigl’s Kirchenberg at 95 is the argument for the defence. Weathered primary rock gives it a Wachau-like minerality that typical Kremstal loess sites simply don’t have, and the 2024 is a marvel of freshness despite 14% alcohol, with an intriguing tonic-botanical, almost juniper-and-gin range.

Behind it, two 91s: Winzer Krems’ Wachtberg, a high wind-blown loess terrace above the city, holding citric freshness through a warm 2022, and Stift Göttweig’s Silberbichl, showing the taut acids of a cooler 2021. The Winzer Krems bottling is certified organic — no small thing at co-operative scale.

95 – Nigl 2024 Grüner Veltliner Ried Kirchenberg 1ÖTW, Kremstal DAC
From primary rock that lends Wachau-like minerality, this is a marvel of freshness and citric vibrancy despite 14% and real density. Citrus and orchard fruit over wet stone, with a tonic, almost gin-like botanical edge. Best from 2028.

91 – Winzer Krems eG Sandgrube 13 2022 Grüner Veltliner Ried Kremser Wachtberg Reserve, Kremstal DAC
Good citric freshness in spite of the warm 2022 vintage, lifted by CO2, with spot-on balance across a mid-weight frame. Ready now or hold into the early ’30s.

91 – Stift Göttweig 2021 Riesling Ried Further Silberbichl 1ÖTW, Kremstal DAC
Open, flowery and varietal, with the fresh acids and tautness of the cooler 2021 vintage. Crunchy, succulent and ready to enjoy, but no rush.

Riesling Loves Heiligenstein

There is no other vineyard quite like the Zöbinger Heiligenstein: a steep, terraced slope of 250-million-year-old Permian desert sandstone streaked with volcanic feldspar, a geological singularity on the Danube and the source of the mineral signature that runs through every wine in this flight. It belongs in any serious conversation about the world’s great Riesling terroirs.

Hirsch tops the flight at 97 with Rotfels, from the iron-rich red rock band — dense, ripe and large-scaled, with extraordinary length. Bründlmayer’s Alte Reben at 95, from old vines including parcels planted in 1923, is tight, grippy and sandy-textured: a stony wine lover’s wine.

The vintage spread is instructive. Hiedler’s 2024 shows remarkable composure for a hot year, helped by natural malolactic — unusual here — that adds texture without sacrificing transparency. Allram’s 2024 is taut to the point of severity; give it two or three years. Eichinger’s 2023 is not an easy wine, but its grainy, grippy Heiligenstein texture makes it among the Danube Valley’s most distinctive.

97 – Hirsch 2023 Riesling Ried Zöbinger Heiligenstein-Rotfels 1ÖTW, Kamptal DAC
From the iron-rich red rock band of the Heiligenstein, a magnificent wine: dense, rich and ripe on a large-scaled frame, intense and complex, with extraordinary length. Best from 2028 into the ’40s; a wine for the ages.

95 – Bründlmayer 2023 Riesling Ried Heiligenstein Alte Reben 1ÖTW, Kamptal DAC
From old vines on Permian sandstone and conglomerate, a tight, grippy, dusty, sandy-textured Riesling with terrific acids and impressive length and depth. A stony wine lover’s wine, several years from prime.

94 – Hiedler 2024 Riesling Ried Heiligenstein 1ÖTW Reserve, Kamptal DAC
Stony and tightly wound yet juicy and succulent, with tart, saliva-drawing acids, gritty texture and great length. Remarkable composure for the hot vintage. Best from 2028 at least, once the grip relaxes.

93 – Allram 2024 Riesling Zöbing Ried Heiligenstein 1ÖTW, Kamptal DAC
Remarkably taut and tight despite a hot vintage and a hot site, with impressive acids, moderate alcohol and excellent length. Intense, distinctive and representative; cellar another 2–3 years.

93 – Steininger 2022 Riesling Ried Zöbinger Heiligenstein 1ÖTW Reserve, Kamptal DAC
Weathered the warm 2022 vintage well, keeping its acids and tightly delineated fruit while showing generosity and richness. Just about ready, but better in another year or two.

92 – Eichinger 2023 Riesling Ried Zöbinger Heiligenstein 1ÖTW, Kamptal DAC
A whiff of sulfur gives way to ripe citrus zest and tonic bitterness, with the grainy, grippy Heiligenstein texture and excellent length. Cellar 2–3 years minimum, or hold into the late ’30s.

Limestone & Slate: Shaping Structure

A flight built on one proposition: calcareous and schistous soils give structure, and structure is what separates a wine that fades at five years from one that improves at fifteen. Wohlmuth’s Edelschuh Sauvignon Blanc leads at 94, off Südsteiermark’s signature opok limestone-marl. Taste it blind and you would struggle to name the variety — a stony, lean essence with more in common with Riesling than with any tropical Sauvignon idiom.

The two 91s come from the Leithaberg, where limestone and schist on the Leitha range do comparable work. Sommer’s Grüner Veltliner is reductive, flinty and naturally leaning — not a style for everyone, but it has fantasy. Birgit Braunstein’s Chardonnay brings the limestone grip and chalky texture of the appellation’s most representative wines.

These are slow-moving wines by design; give the Wohlmuth another two to four years.

94 – Wohlmuth 2023 Sauvignon Blanc Ried Edelschuh, Südsteiermark DAC
Good luck guessing Sauvignon Blanc blind: opok limestone-marl shapes a stony, lean, tight essence of herbal greens and citrus, reverberating on tingly acids. Best in another 2–4 years.

91 – Sommer 2023 Grüner Veltliner Ried Halser, Leithaberg DAC
A notably reductive, flinty-dieselly GV from calcareous and schist soils, natural-leaning, woolly and salty. Not for everyone, but it has fantasy, with very good length and depth.

91 – Birgit Braunstein 2021 Chardonnay Ried Thenau Purbach am Neusiedlersee, Leithaberg DAC
Fluid and bright, with the limestone grip and chalky texture of the Leithaberg’s calcareous slate, moving slowly through its evolution. Real fantasy here. Best from 2027.

5 Years Later – Vintage 2021 Whites

Five years on is the right moment to ask whether a vintage delivered on its promise, and 2021 — a cooler year relative to the last decade, with fresh acids and genuine tautness — has held up handsomely. The wines in this flight are, almost without exception, still youthful.

Tement’s Zieregg Kår at 96 is the wine of the flight: chalky limestone-marl on the cool Zieregg plateau (Kår is Austrian dialect for ‘cold mountain’), still reductive and flinty, its intensity coiled like a cornered animal before it pounces on the back end. Nikolaihof’s Vom Stein at 93, from stone terraces first cut by the Romans, flirts with volatility but stays on the right side of the equation — frankly timeless.

The Styrian pair behind them illustrate a divergence in philosophy. Kodolitsch’s Rosengarten is at peak now, with gentle wood in service of the site; Erwin Sabathi’s Chardonnay is technically impressive but, for me, the oak and lees-reduction take too much away from the place — a winemaker’s wine rather than a vineyard’s.

96 – Tement 2021 Sauvignon Blanc Ried Zieregg Kår GSTK, Südsteiermark DAC

Still remarkably youthful and reductive, flinty-sulfury, with crunchy, sapid acids and intensity off the charts, coiled like a cornered animal ready to pounce on the back end. Salty, unique and long.

93 – Nikolaihof Wachau 2021 Riesling Ried Mauterner Vom Stein Smaragd, Wachau DAC

Sapid, saliva-inducing and juicy, with palpable tension and energy and excellent length. Uncompromising, flirting with volatility but always on the right side. Drinking now, but timeless.

91 – Kodolitsch 2021 Sauvignon Blanc Ried Leibnitzer Rosengarten T.M.S., Südsteiermark DAC

In fine shape now, with fresh torn basil and tarragon, gentle wood and light flinty reduction over very good density. At peak if you want to hold on to the fruit.

90 – Sabathi Erwin 2021 Chardonnay Ried Pössnitzberger Kapelle I Leutschach, Südsteiermark DAC

Full-bodied, flinty and reductive, with wood still showing and high flavour intensity. For me, the oak and lees take too much from the place, a winemaker’s style. Try again in 2–3 years.

Austria Off-Piste

Every tasting needs a flight that refuses to behave, and this is it — wines that sit outside the varietal and vintage conventions and are better for it. What links the leading three is a deliberate rejection of the single-vintage, single-variety orthodoxy.

Schloss Gobelsburg’s Tradition Heritage Cuvée at 95 is historical reconstruction as winemaking: a multi-vintage, multi-variety recreation of the baroque cellar style of 1800–1850, basket-pressed and aged two years in large Manhartsberg oak. Fullish, complex, sapid, with terrific length and tonic bitterness — just good wine.

Zillinger’s Revolution at 93 is a perpetual solera of Riesling, Scheurebe and Chardonnay, unfined and minimally sulphured: orange peel, resinous herbs, savoury depth, a touch of volatility, but so much fantasy. And Edlmoser’s Ried Sätzen shows why a Gemischter Satz field blend’s mixed ripeness is precisely the point in an extreme vintage like 2022.

95 – Schloss Gobelsburg NV Cuvée Tradition Heritage Cuvee 3 Jahre Edition 853 NV, Niederösterreich
A recreation of the 1800–1850 cellar style, aged in large old foudres, this is fullish, complex and complete, sapid and succulent, with tonic bitterness, citrus zest, resinous herbs and terrific length. Drink or hold, likely into the ’40s.

93 – Zillinger Johannes NV Cuvée Revolution White Solera NV, Österreich
A Riesling, Scheurebe and Chardonnay solera that delivers orange juice and peel, resinous and sweet herbs and savoury depth. A touch of volatility, but serious, original wine with so much fantasy.

91 – Edlmoser 2022 Ried Sätzen 1ÖTW, Wiener Gemischter Satz DAC
The mixed ripeness of a co-planted field blend gives under-, over- and perfectly ripe flavours, the way it should be, with crunchy acids and gentle reduction. Shows the wisdom of the field blend in an extreme vintage.

Steiermark Masterclass

This was the flight of the tasting, and the scores bear it out: sixteen wines at 90 or better, ten of them above 92, with two at 97. Styria’s case rests on two pillars — extraordinary soils and extraordinary patience — and this line-up demonstrates both, spanning vintages from 2023 all the way back to 2006.

The soils first. Erwin Sabathi’s Pössnitzberger Kapelle I at 97 sits on ‘Opok’ chalky marl with topsoil rarely deeper than 20 cm, on slopes exceeding 75% gradient. Tement’s Zieregg XT, also 97, spent 9.5 years on the lees because, as the family put it, Zieregg needs that long to fully express itself. Sattlerhof’s Trinkaus owes its unusual salinity directly to a fossil-rich coral-limestone reef.

Then the patience — the flight’s real revelation. Polz’s Hochgrassnitzberg 2010 pours pale for a sixteen-year-old, composed and ageing magnificently; by the end I had genuinely forgotten which variety I was drinking. Gross’s Nussberg 2006 is creamy-salty and leesy in the best way, like salted lemon pie. Anyone who still believes Styrian Sauvignon Blanc is a wine to drink young should sit through this flight.

Note too that the flight reaches into Vulkanland, a useful reminder that Styria is not one region but several. Volcanic tuff and basalt shape the wines of Winkler-Hermaden, Ulrich, Hutter and Frühwirth — Ulrich’s Hochstraden climbs to 540 metres — while Lackner-Tinnacher’s uncompromisingly green 2016 Welles is a wine I don’t enjoy but must respect as a faithful document of a brutal growing season.

97 – Weingut Erwin Sabathi 2021 Chardonnay Ried Possnitzberg Kapelle 1 GSTK, Südsteiermark
From an extremely calcareous, high, exposed parcel, remarkably tight, youthful and flinty-reductive, with seamless texture, crackling acids, perfect balance and tremendous length. Easily one of Austria’s best Chardonnays.

97 – Weingut Tement 2015 Sauvigno Blanc Ried Zieregg XT GSTK, Südsteiermark
From Zieregg’s historic core parcel, 9.5 years on the lees in the warm 2015 vintage, showing beautifully now. Intensity is off the charts, salinity and sapidity carry the show, and length is tremendous.

96 – Weingut Sattlerhof 2021 Sauvignon Blanc Ried Trinkaus, Südsteiermark
A new bottling from a rugged parcel of quartz rock and coral limestone: stony, sharp, intensely flavoured and concentrated without heaviness, with no wood or green notes. Exceptional length; pure place.

95 – Weingut Wohlmut 2011 Riesling Ried Edelschuh GSTK, Südsteiermark
From pure schist at high elevation in a top Styrian vintage, rich and fleshy yet bright, with ripe, yellow-fleshed fruit and candied lemon. Tremendous length, depth and complexity. Marvellous.

95 – Weingut Polz 2010 Sauvignon Blanc Ried Hochgrassnitzberg GSTK, Südsteiermark
Surprisingly pale at 16 years old, still flinty from limestone and long lees ageing, delicate, composed, silky and seamless. Ageing magnificently; the variety seems irrelevant.

94 – Weingut Frauenwallner 2023 Traminer Ried Strandener Rosenberg 1STK, Vulkanland Steiermark
Half Gelber Traminer, half Gewürztraminer from cool, chalky slopes, richly perfumed, silky, broad and full, with excellent length. A top-notch example.

94 – Weingut Wolfgang Maitz 2017 Sauvignon Blanc Ried Schusterberg 1STK, Südsteiermark
From an exceptional, slow-to-evolve vintage, still very youthful and tightly wound after 18 months on fine lees, with crunchy, lovely acids and excellent length.

94 – Weingut Gross 2006 Sauvignon Blanc Ried Nussberg GSTK, Südsteiermark
Remarkable at 20 years old: creamy-salty, lemony and leesy in the best way, like salted lemon pie. Proves the point about Steiermark and ageability.

93 – Winegut Hannes Sabathi 2021 Chardonnay Ried Graf Woracziczky, Südsteiermark
From 65-year-old vines, clean, maturing barrel-fermented aromatics, ripe citrus and lemon curd, with impressive weight and creamy texture, rich and concentrated without heaviness. Very good to excellent length.

93 – Weingut Winkler Hermaden 2021 Sauvignon Blanc Ried Kirchleiten GSTK, Vulkanland Steiermark
From volcanic soils, lovely salinity around a sweet fruit core of candied lemon-lime and lemon curd, with sizzling acids and excellent length and depth. Clean and spot on.

92 – Ulrich 2021 Ried Hochstraden Sauvignon Blanc, Vulkanland Steiermark DAC
Clean, crisp and salty, especially for the vintage, from pure volcanic tuff and basalt at 540 metres, where hot sun and cold nights do the work. Cellar to 2032.

92 – Frühwirth 2022 Gelber Traminer Ried Hochwarth, Vulkanland Steiermark DAC
Macerated overnight to draw aromatics from the skins, then 18 months on fine lees: succulent, fleshy, fluid and sapid, with great acids and a long finish. Character and class.

92 – Weingut Neumeister 2021 Sauvignon Blanc Alte Reben, Vulkanland Steiermark
From vines planted as far back as 1937, a slightly funky, wood-inflected, phenolic and extremely saline Sauvignon, very fruit-backward. Decant; atypical, severe, but full of personality and density.

91 – Weingut Lackner Tinnacher 2016 Sauvignon Blanc Ried Welles GSTK, Südsteiermark
From a late, frost-hit vintage, curiously perfumed like steamed green beans: mossy, lean, sharp and high in acid. Not to my taste, but representative, concentrated and long.

90 – Ulrich 2024 St. Anna Chardonnay, Vulkanland Steiermark DAC
Clean, crisp and salty, especially for the vintage, from pure volcanic soils. Tidy village-tier Chardonnay.

90 – Hutter 2023 Sauvignon Blanc Ortswein Gleichenberg, Vulkanland Steiermark DAC
A year in 300L barrel, developing beautifully, with green tropical fruit, torn basil and elegant sulphides. Broad, rich and creamy, wood integrating nicely; exceptional length.

That’s all for this special report. See you ’round the next bottle.

John Szabo, MS