Nice and white in Austria

Did it snow? No, we are not going to talk about winter sports and powdered mountains. But we will talk about other fine 'white goods' from the land of schnitzels, strudels and Sachertaart. In this buying guide, we taste Weissburgunders, Rielings, Morillons, Rotgipflers and many other white wines from Austria - but no Grüner Veltliners. - TEXT EVELIJN VAN HEUVEN

Nice and white in Austria

Austria produces very varied white wines. There are all kinds of white grapes criss-crossing the country: 26 in total, collectively accounting for about two-thirds of all grape plantings. For the record, we will leave grüner veltliner - the forerunner of the bunch - aside. It already gets enough attention. So what are the runner-ups
after GruVee? Those spots are taken by welschriesling, riesling, chardonnay and weissburgunder. Further down the list, you will come across names of more obscure, sometimes really local grapes like scheurebe, muscat ottonel, bouvier and rotgipfler.

NUMBER 3 IN THE WORLD
Austria and (white) wine have a long history. This one goes back even further than Roman times. You might not think it, but around 1920 Austria was even the third
largest wine producer in the world. Even then, the emphasis was on white wines, albeit mainly somewhat simpler, lighter white wines. Unfortunately, this booming wine industry almost fell over due to a
dramatic wine scandal in the 1980s. A number of wine producers with dollar signs in their eyes ventured to add di-ethylene glycol - a well-known component of antifreeze - to wines, with the aim of giving lighter wines a bit more body.

Curious about the whole article? You can read it in the latest Winelife Magazine 73. Order this one here!

Don't want to miss a single edition? Subscribe then subscribe to Winelife Magazine now!

Want to stay up to date with the best articles? Follow Winelife magazine on Instagram, Facebook and sign up for our fortnightly newsletter.