Austria

Total area under vines: 48 500 ha (119 846 acres)
Riesling: 1 624 ha (4 013 acres) = 3.3% of Austria, 5% of Riesling worldwide

Producers

• Kamptal

• Bründlmayer
• Gobelsburg

• Wachau

• Alzinger

• Kremstal

• Salomon

Vintages

2006

Excellent quality but low yields. A bitterly cold winter was followed by a wet spring, which meant late flowering or in some cases now flowering at all, reducing yields significantly (some vintners in the Wachau were able to harvest only half of what they usually do). A very hot July was followed by a very wet August and finally the weather turned into dry and sunny vintner's dream. This means that 2006 brought high sugar levels in the grapes and the cooler August along with the perfect fall weather kept the acidity high enough. The 2006 Rieslings are expected to show good extract levels, refreshing acidity, but also high alcohol. Botrytis influence was little to none in 2006.

News

Wine region Donauland is now called Wagram

The wine region of Donauland always had a problem: nobody knew about it. You had heard about the famed wines of F. X. Pichler, no doubt, whose vineyards are in the Wachau region. You always nodded knowingly when your friends discussed the fine mineral aromas of the wines from Kamptal and praised the refreshing acidity of the Grüner Veltliner wines from Wagram. At home, inspired by so much talk about Austrian wines, you would uncork a half-bottle of your dessert wine from Burgenland. But Donauland?

It turns out that the aforementioned Grüner Veltliner is actually a wine from the Donauland region because Wagram was a subregion of Donauland. In order to take advantage of the better known Wagram, the Österreichische Weinbauverband (Austrian winegrower association) decided to rename the region Donauland after its more famous subregion. The new Wagram appellation is valid starting with the 2007 vintage.

More details at Wines from Austria.

Kracher puts 1 + 1 + 1 together

Dessert wines go well with dessert, hence the name. They also go well with cheese, which, like desserts, also comes at the end of the meal. Alois Kracher, one of the most prolific producers of sweet wines from Austria is now also offering a Kracher chocolate Edel und gut ("noble and good"), produced by Hansjorg Haag. Kracher also developed a blue cheese affined with Beerenauslese, coming from the Styria, produced by Schärdinger.