It was almost a year today that Oliver Coleman pitched the below article to BFW and – for all manner of reasons – we’ve only just gotten around to publishing it. We can only say we’re sorry. Oliver’s writing is, thankfully, timeless – and his thoughts on Burgenland’s treasures are as true as they were this time last year. As Oliver says, it’s time for the UK trade to take note.
Austria should be on the radar of every serious wine lover. Though a relatively small player in the global wine trade, the country’s wines hit all the on-trend vinous sweet spots: a formidable blend of tradition and modernity from small, family-run, quality-focused producers (many organic and/or biodynamic), an obsession with terroir and site expression, local varieties, wines that balance depth, purity and freshness and, at the top end, the ability to sit happily in a cellar for a couple of decades. And all this at relatively accessible prices.
Much of the country’s renown has come from producers in the regions of Niederösterreich, where Austria’s leading white grape variety, Grüner Veltliner, is king. Yet, that is certainly not all the country has to offer and other regions, too, boast a wealth of quality and diversity that really should get more attention. Perhaps the most intriguing of these is Burgenland, south of Vienna stretching south along the eastern border with Hungary.
At the annual Master of Wine seminar in the town of Rust in Burgenland – amid intense prep for the upcoming exams – we had the good fortune to attend some brilliantly curated tastings and masterclasses from the leading lights of Burgenland’s wineries; the breadth and depth of quality on display was impressive. It is time for the UK trade to take note.
Blaufränkisch old vines at Weingut Nehrer, Leithaberg DAC.
Under open skies
Unlike the vertiginous slopes of the Wachau, Burgenland presents the visitor with a panorama of open plains and gently rolling hills. The warm, continental air that flows across this landscape is the first key to understanding the character of Burgenland’s wines; unlike the rest of Austria, red grapes dominate. Austria’s own Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt are the stars, but the temperatures are warm enough to produce bold, ripe Bordeaux blends, too. And while these reds have been the calling card of the region, there is also a panoply of white wines produced – Grüner Veltliner, naturally, but Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Blanc, Riesling and Welschriesling are all important (the last of these increasingly so).
The second key is Lake Neusiedl. This very shallow, reed-encircled lake moderates the continental extremes of hot days and cold nights, extending the growing season. This effect is felt most in the two northern DACs (appellations) of Leithaberg and Neusiedlersee, which together count for the lion’s share of the Burgenland production, but it plays a role in the Mittelburgenland, too. The lake also creates the enabling autumnal mists for the traditional gem of Burgenland – its noble-rot sweet wines.
Although much of the region, particularly the north, is relatively flat, the slopes and low-rise hills are home to the best vineyard sites. Eisenberg DAC, the southern portion of Burgenland, for example, has only a few hundred hectares of vines planted on a series of slopes that hug the Hungarian border. Burgenland’s hills feature a bewildering array of soil types and bedrock: everything from schist and limestone to clay and gneiss. There’s no denying that this adds to the diversity of Burgenland’s wines. Indeed, terroir focus has been one of the pillars of Austria’s push for quality over the past few decades and every producer is keen to explain exactly how minute changes in soil are expressed in the glass.
Burgenland Masterclass Line-up 19/01/2024.
Austria’s red wine heartland
Burgenland sells itself as a red-wine region – perhaps, in part, to distinguish it from the rest of the white-wine-dominated country (even though whites account for 45% of regional production). Cynicism aside, Burgenland’s reds are hugely impressive and easily the most formidable in Austria. Apart from Neusiedlersee DAC, where Zweigelt is the only red grape approved for DAC status, Blaufränkisch is the star.
This increasingly renowned grape produces wines of notable freshness allied to medium weight and a range of characterful red-fruit and deep spice/mineral/earthy aromas and flavours. And, like all great varieties, it expresses its site well. Winemakers differ on how to handle the grape in the winery. Some, such as Albert Gesellmann in Mittelburgenland, craft a plush, more polished expression with a high proportion of new oak; other leading producers, such as Christian Wachter at Wachter-Wiesler in Eisenberg and Markus Altenburger in Leithaberg prefer more neutral oak and the inclusion of some whole bunches to enhance fruit and terroir expression. Both approaches yield engaging results, though the overall trend seems to be towards less new oak use. In the most capable hands, Burgenland Blaufränkisch is also built to age – we tasted examples with over a decade behind them, and a good few years left, that had gained fantastic complexity.
Zweigelt, which dominates in the Neusiedlersee region, has plenty charm of its own. Many examples are accessible, juicy, and ripe – very difficult to resist. But there are more serious examples, too, from single-vineyard sites that have the layered complexity (from some oak-ageing) and intensity to surprise and delight. Again, the style runs the gamut from super-full-bodied opulence (Weingut Pöckl) to an almost-Burgundian ethereality (Artisan Wines), and everything in between. In fact, the main issue seems to be the lack of a clear identity for Zweigelt in Burgenland, leaving the consumer slightly in the dark without insider knowledge.
Alongside these single-variety wines, producers’ portfolios often make broad use of blends. These usually combine the Austrian varieties (Bern Nittnaus makes a deliciously drinkable entry-level cuvée of Zweigelt, St. Laurent and Blaufränkisch) or use Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon as partners. The results sometimes lack a local ‘flavour’, but many have undoubted appeal. The international connection doesn’t stop there; producers around Rust, for example, are planting and bottling a whole host of grapes – Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Carménère, even Nebbiolo (a singular example from Günter Triebaumer). Though how such wines might find an audience outside Austria is an open question.
Experimentation with varieties and styles is even more pronounced with Burgenland’s white wines. No doubt, the lack of a headline white grape variety has been a boon for those winemakers of an innovative disposition. The pioneering approach is, in fact, an interesting feature of the region’s producers. Many are small, family-owned concerns. And as the older generation hand over to a younger cohort, there is an appealing blend of tradition and modernity. Weingut Sommer, in Leithaberg is a typical example. The engaging Leopold Sommer continues his father’s approach for the classically styled wines, while he has also crafted a range of low-intervention expressions of Riesling, Grüner Veltliner, Traminer and Sauvignon Blanc, which exhibit wonderful fruit purity with excellent texture and edge.
Similar experimentation with white varieties continues across the region. From the clay-bottled, funky ‘natural’ wines of Weingut Heinrich to a re-emphasis on Furmint (Ernst Triebaumer, Weingut Esterhazy among many others) – much of the region was part of Hungary until a century ago. This Hungarian connection is made more explicit at leading Eisenberg estate Wachter-Wiesler, where the Welschriesling is bottled under the Hungarian name ‘Olaszrizling’. This variety, long seen as a workhorse grape, is undergoing a ‘revolution’, according to Christian Wachter, but that ‘they are still working out the style’ in Burgenland. If his version is anything to go by, the variety has a bright future.
The final string to Burgenland’s bow is its sweet wines. These are largely produced in vineyards around Lake Neusiedl, using noble rot (cf. Tokaj and Sauternes), though late-harvested and Eiswein versions are common, too. In fact, the town of Rust has been producing botrytis wines for at least 500 years and, since 2020, has its own dedicated DAC – Ruster Ausbruch. On the other side of the lake, the legendary Kracher estate has long been the torchbearer – the trailblazing Alois Kracher organised a blind tasting of his wines against such luminaries as d’Yquem as far back as 1991 (the Kracher wines held their own, apparently). There are some exceptional bottlings and many are available ex cellar with decades of bottle age (at frankly ludicrously low prices for the quality).
Heinrich’s clay bottles.
A rising tide lifts all boats
With this abundance of quality and style, you would think these wines would be easy to find on the UK market. Though, with some notable exceptions, Burgenland has yet to make the same impact as their Lower Austrian colleagues. Partly this is due to the lack of a clear regional stylistic identity. For Wachau, Kremstal and Kamptal, the focus is predominantly on Grüner Veltliner and Riesling. These regions also pioneered the vineyard and stylistic classifications (ÖTW and Vinea Wachau et al) that cemented and enhanced the standing of these appellations and their wines. For Burgenland, defining a regional personality is not so easy when you have a smorgasbord of varieties and styles on offer.
Still, recent developments are closing the gap, and the pioneering work of leading producers in Lower Austria is paying dividends for the country as a whole. The extension of the DAC system across all of Austria’s main wine-growing regions is now complete and gives a clear, coherent set of appellations and rules. Since it was first set up in Weinviertel in 2002, regions have entered the system piecemeal. Even Austria’s flagship region, Wachau, joined as recently as 2020. In even better news, Austria’s frankly Byzantine system of single-vineyard classification – run in different areas by different producer groups – has finally been rationalised into one system from last year. While I doubt that even the most die-hard wine nerds will remember the names of all these vineyards, the use of the word ried (vineyard) on single-vineyard labels could certainly become a well-known signifier of quality in itself – similar in effect to premier cru.
Although most consumers’ capacity to absorb grid-square-level soil information is limited, younger wine-drinkers in particular care about provenance and traceability. Austria’s ried system gives them that in spades. In fact, with the release of austrianvineyards.com, the country’s wine board have stolen a march on pretty much every other wine-producing country. Anyone can now trace the origin of their reid wine (or even find a wealth of information at the appellation/regional level), including a raft of climate and grape-variety information all on an interactive map – a downloadable connection between the vines and the drinker.
These classifications, plus their stock of indigenous grape varieties, are strong calling cards for mature markets such as the UK. So, with the right styles (and plenty of them), sustainable approaches to winemaking, and, of course, an abundance of quality, the stars could be aligning for Burgenland’s producers.
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What was your last experience of Austrian wine? Have you any to recommend from Burgenland? Comment below.
