Styrian Wine Region - Austria

[dave vino]

The Styrian wine region is comprised of 3 different areas, Vulkanland Steiermark (famous for Traminers), Weststeiermark (famous for Rose) and Südsteiermark which is best known for it’s SavBlancs and which was the focus of my day. It is in the Sausal region and part of the Südsteirischen Weinstraße.

[img]http://www.grapemates.org/files/Misc/Styrian6.jpg[/img]


I caught the train down to Leibnitz from Graz where a work mate picked me up and took me out through the region, the scenery is absolutely stunning, they call it the Tuscany of Austria and I can see why. Driving around from village to village is great, the scenery and steepness of the vineyards needs to be seen to be believed, I thought Hermitage was steep, these are just as bad. The winegrowers must have calves like basketballs as you would never get machinery on these slopes. The villages in most cases are just that, small hamlets interspersed amongst the green rolling hills, lots of nice pubs and restaurants with views across the valley.


[img]http://www.grapemates.org/files/Misc/Styrian4.jpg[/img]


As mentioned before the region is famous for Sauvignon Blanc, but thankfully it is a world away from the Kiwi styles and more like the Sancerre ones of France. It can become hard work when they have about 5-6 different ones, regions, single vineyards etc plus examples of their other whites like the Gelber Muskateller. The Muskateller is kind of like the French Muscadet but with a bit more spice and body. The regions is definitely all about the whites. What I found really interesting was the whole concept of Terroir for the wines, to me terroir and SavBlanc in the same sentence is a bit alien. Yet Lackner & Tinnacher and Weingut Erwin Sabathi were both good examples of wineries taking the concept very seriously, with maps/aspects/soil types all coming into play and creating a different end result – having the wines lined up in front of you it was hard not to see and appreciate. Prices for the wines were quite reasonable although not really a consideration for me as I had no economical way to get them back to Oz. They do good, very reasonably priced BA and TBA wines (compared to their German neighbours) and L&T sealed their ones under Vino-Lok which was quite refreshing to see. (I have no doubt these BA/TBA wines will last decades)


[img]http://www.grapemates.org/files/Misc/Styrian1.jpg[/img]


For lunch we were at Die Weinbank which is a great wine bar/restaurant in Ehrenhausen (which is a tiny town), great glassware, great service and a good range of Bio-Dynamic local producers. Very nice setup there. Gabriel Glas glassware, Riedel decanters, lots of wines and empty trophy bottles around the place. We had the Klare Suppe which is Ox soup with sliced up pancakes in it (very strange but really nice) and then Pork Belly, sauerkraut and Knodel. They are huge on Pumpkin Seed Oil in Austria, you can see in the pic’s that it is this really dark green, it is their Olive Oil and there are tons of artisan ones out there. Ox is quite a staple meat in Austria with soups being a big favourite. They are in the consommé style and are filling and rich without being overblown with spices.


[img]http://www.grapemates.org/files/Misc/Styrian2.jpg[/img]


I’d love to have a Porsche 911 with a drop top and spend a good weekend here, with all the different restaurants, windy roads and epic scenery. Definitely something to try and experience if you are down that way. It is truly a beautiful part of the world.

A bit shout out to Markus for taking me around for the day in his car. Muchly appreciated!!


[img]http://www.grapemates.org/files/Misc/Styrian5.jpg[/img]


[img]http://www.grapemates.org/files/Misc/Styrian3.jpg[/img]

[paulf]

Picturesque indeed and even better when you have a driver!
For steepness I'd say the Douro is easily the steepest I have seen, but it would be back breaking work hand picking on these hills.

[JDSJDS]

Great info and pictures, many thanks!

[JamieBahrain]

During the GFC I was furloughed and with a young child, decided the best way to experience Europe was to live in two wine regions for a month at a time . I picked Burgundy and my wife picked Styria. Southern Styria is beautiful and the white wines are superb. Sauvignon blanc like you can not imagine- nothing like the Kiwi stuff as the soil compositions driving complex minerality and there's a European ripeness, long and even, driving fruit intricacy.

Summer nights and buschenschanks, where every day of the week a different farmer or wine maker would put on a local feast washed down with the wine. Great region, vowed to return though a good Austrian friend is firmly settled in the Wachau and its hard to leave that wonderful region too.