Worldwide Awards for Austria's Wines
In international trade magazines and at renowned wine competitions, Austrian wines generated enthusiastic voices and won top ratings, gold medals and coveted trophies.
The Austrian wine landscape has much to offer and is also internationally recognized. / Picture: © ÖWM / Robert Herbst
Worldwide Awards for Austria's Wines Intro: In international trade magazines and at renowned wine competitions, Austrian wines generated enthusiastic voices and won top ratings, gold medals and coveted trophies. Main: Austria's wines have been recognized by international trade magazines and at prestigious wine competitions, according to Austrian Wine Marketing. The Austrian wine landscape has much to offer and is also internationally recognized.
Austrian Wine Marketing offers an overview of the most renowned wines in Austria and which Austrian winemakers have won which awards and perform well in which categories.
Sweet wine victory at the International Wine Challenge
Every year, the International Wine Challenge (IWC) in England selects the best wines and winemakers in the world. Two predicate wines of the 2010 vintage from the Hans Tschida Angerhof winery did particularly well. The winery's outstanding expertise in sweet wines was also underscored by the IWC Sweet Winemaker of the Year award, which Hans Tschida received for the eighth time.
Awards from Decanter and Drinks Business
Shortly before, the trade magazine Decanter published the results of its "World Wine Awards," in which over 18,000 wines from all over the world were tasted, 184 of them from Austria. Despite the relatively small number of entries, two Austrian wines were able to place among the 50 best wines, the so-called "Best in Show": the Birgit Eichinger Winery with the Grüner Veltliner Ried Kammerner Lamm "1ÖTW" 2020 and the Salomon Winery with the Riesling Ried Pfaffenberg "1ÖTW" 2019.
Austria's wines also did very well in the "Global Masters" organized by the industry medium Drinks Business. Of 51 wines submitted, ten received a gold medal, and two even received the coveted title of "Master": the Riesling Ried Gaisriegl 2019 from the Schauer Winery and the Sauvignon Blanc Ried Hochbrudersegg 2020 from the Schneeberger Winery.
Robert Parker: 95 points for 2021 Federspiel
In the first half of the year, Stephan Reinhardt evaluated several dozen Austrian wines for the extremely renowned Robert Parker Wine Advocate magazine, with a focus on Lower Austria. Very remarkable was the rating of 95 points for the Riesling Federspiel Ried Bruck 2021 of Domäne Wachau. For the evaluation of the longer matured wines from single vineyard and reserve categories, which is due in early fall, this result gives hope for great things.
Wine Enthusiast - The lightness of Lower Austrian wine
Aleks Zecevic took an even more detailed look at Lower Austria for Wine Enthusiast. In a detailed article, he reported on the generation of young winemakers who focus on lighter, alternative wine styles and work very close to nature. According to Zecevic, wine types of this type are particularly interesting for the U.S. market, whose consumers are increasingly turning to wines with lower alcohol content and from environmentally conscious production.
Vinum - Highest rating for Styrian Rosé
Rosé wine is the hot topic of the moment - and on everyone's lips. This was also the case in the trade magazine Vinum, which dedicated its competition to this wine style. And Austria's wines were also at the forefront here: as one of only two wines, the Pinot Noir Rosé "funky" 2020 from Herrenhof Lamprecht in the Vulkanland Steiermark region scored 95 points and thus the best rating of the entire competition. It also won best organic rosé.
World champion Sauvignon comes from Styria
With its Sauvignon Blanc Ried Kranachberg Reserve 2015, the Peter Skoff winery was able to bring the trophy "Revelation Oaked Sauvignon" to Styria. In general, the Styrian Sauvignons again performed excellently and were able to win the second highest number of medals (71) among 23 submitting countries, in the "oaked category" even the most (42).
Zweigelt as "the next big story from Austria
With the autochthonous grape varieties Zweigelt (Rotburger), Blaufränkisch and St. Laurent, Austria has three aces up its sleeve in this respect. The two magazines Harpers and Drinks Business recently put the qualities of Zweigelt in the spotlight. Based on a tasting at London's Trivet restaurant, Andrew Catchpole concluded for Harpers that Zweigelt could become the red counterpart to Grüner Veltliner, as it reflects the versatility of Austria's flagship white wine variety. Master of Wine Dirceu Vianna Junior, who was present, also emphasized that Zweigelt could convey its origin very well, concluding, "We want to make Zweigelt the next big story from Austria."
Vaihinger Löwe
Double victory for Blaufränkisch from Mittelburgenland Austria's Blaufränkisch wines are also a bank at international tastings - this was once again demonstrated at the "Vaihinger Löwe" tasting, which specializes in this variety. Out of 179 wines submitted (Blaufränkisch, Lemberger, Kékfrankos, Frankovka), the Tesch Winery from Mittelburgenland was able to claim a double victory: first place with its "Patriot" 2015, second with its "Patriot" 2017. In total, Austria took no less than five of the first seven places, thus underlining its outstanding Blaufränkisch expertise.