Austria Among the World Leaders in Organic Viticulture
Austria is continuing its successful course in environmentally conscious viticulture and for the first time has more than 10,000 hectares of certified organic vineyards. The 10,432 hectares now correspond to around 24% of the country's total vineyard area, making Austria one of the global leaders in organic viticulture.
This year, for the first time, certified organic wine will be grown on more than 10,000 hectares of land in Austria. / Picture: © © Herbert Lehmann, Wien
According to the report "The World of Organic Agriculture 2024" (FiBL & IFOAM), the country already led the ranking of major wine-growing nations in 2022 with an organic share of 21.5% - ahead of France (20.7%) and Italy (18.1%).
The importance of environmentally conscious viticulture is also underlined by the spread of other environmental certifications. More than one in ten organic vineyards in Austria is cultivated biodynamically, and around 25% of vineyards are certified according to the "Nachhaltig Austria" seal of quality, which evaluates over 380 measures ranging from vineyard management to the weight of wine bottles.
"Austrian wine enjoys a worldwide reputation for being produced in a particularly environmentally conscious way - and rightly so, as the figures show," comments Chris Yorke, Managing Director of Österreich Wein Marketing GmbH (ÖWM). Environmental certifications are important sales arguments in many sales markets, such as Scandinavia, Canada, and the USA, and therefore also promote sales of Austrian wines.
The challenges of environmentally conscious viticulture in Austria are greater than in more southerly wine-growing countries due to the climatic conditions, such as more precipitation and cooler temperatures. Nevertheless, the proportion of environmentally conscious production methods is considerable. This is partly due to the structure of the domestic wine industry: 95% of Austrian wineries are family businesses that cultivate an average of just four hectares of vines. These small structures enable precise and careful cultivation of the vineyards. In addition, the national agri-environmental program ÖPUL has been supporting the environmentally conscious efforts of winegrowers for three decades.
To further promote the positive development of environmentally conscious viticulture, the ÖWM will focus on this topic in the future. Advertising themes, a short video, and a dedicated website summarizing all the facts and figures on environmentally conscious viticulture in Austria are planned.
Österreich Wein Marketing GmbH or Austria Wine Marketing (ÖWM) is a service company for the Austrian wine industry based in Vienna. Since it was founded in 1986, ÖWM has supported and coordinated the strategic efforts of the Austrian wine industry in terms of quality and sales, both domestically and for export, with a focus on value creation.