The Latest / Regional Guide

With such diversity it can be hard to summarize the region’s wine style. But to us, the heart of the matter is that Lower Austria gives us authentic wines. And best of all, they do this at incredibly fair prices.

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.

Monforte shines through its sheer diversity. 

It does have quite a bit of limestone in its soils, but less than Serralunga, and in general the soil types, altitudes and orientations are as mixed up in Monforte as in any other village. 

It’s an exciting time to discover the wines of Austria. The dynamic styles produced by the technically proficient graduates of the Klosterneuburg juxtapose the experimental natural winemakers breaking the mold in every region.

I adore Castiglione di Falletto because it is balanced.  The best wines possess a regalness and composure that is only possible when you stray from the opposite ends of a spectrum and wander towards the happy middle.  

Here you have wines that do have intense structure and aromas – of course, as this is Barolo! – but also poise. 

These vineyards only make up about 10% of the DOC Barolo, but they make a far larger percentage of the best known wine, and 100% of the village is entitled to produce Nebbiolo called Barolo.

La Morra is a very important village! And not just because it’s charming to visit and has a number of top producers and vineyard sites. 

It’s also important because it produces a lot of wine! Look at any map of Barolo’s villages and  you’ll see that La Morra is a giant blob taking over the entire northwest corner of the area. This blob produces around 25% of all Barolo.

Sancerre's soils are one of the keys to its amazing wines, and Oxfordian Limestone is one of the more common its three super-special soils. Click here for a guide!

Perhaps no other soil holds as much appeal to terroir-focused wine drinkers as Kimmeridgian limestone. It's a key ingredient in all the Grands Crus of Chablis and many of the greatest Champagnes of the Côtes des Blancs. You also find it in Sancerre.

To get a better look at the terrors of Sancerre, there's no better place to start than the flinty soils (aka "silex") on the eastern edges of Sancerre. This Q&A should give you a good idea what Sancerre on Silex is all about!

Over the last several decades, the name Sancerre has become synonymous with premium dry white wine, making it the safe choice for consumers with no other requirements. As such, it's become one of wine's greatest hits, a wine region with nearly unparalleled brand recognition and customer devotion. This is fair, as virtually any Sancerre is taut, articulate, and often of reliably good quality.

Well, we've done all the big and famous Crus, but the little ones are still worth talking about. And drinking! We’ll start today with the gem, Régnié.