It may seem ironic but we think of the Wagram as the most quintessentially Austrian wine region. Ironic, since it’s the newest DAC (“Districtus Austriae Controllatus,” Austria’s equivalent of the old French DOC) and far from Austria’s most famous region.
But it’s hard to think of a region that is more uniquely Austrian.
What is the greatest Wine City in the world? Vienna gets my vote. That’s probably not what you’d expect. Vienna’s certainly not the best city in the world for finding the broadest selection of the world’s wines (that has to be New York)
Few things are as exciting as realizing you are experiencing an undiscovered phenomenon. Like your cousin who was playing Nirvana tapes before they hit the radio, or the line cook flipping burgers next to Danny Meyer. You vibrate with the energy of the thing, you can’t wait for it to infect everyone else. You start passing out cassette tapes and inviting your friends out to dinner.
Today, that’s me and Burgenland.
The Wachau Valley is the epicenter of Austria’s greatest wines. In fact, to many wine consumers, the wines of the Wachau are the wines of Austria.
While that sentiment sells Austria short, ignoring many diverse and excellent wine regions, it’s not baseless. The Wachau’s vineyards, defined 1,000 years ago by local monks, are still recognized today for producing some of the world’s greatest white wines.
