Have you ever wondered around in the wine store thinking to buy something new and you told yourself: “Let’s try something from Germany or Austria, they have some aromatic white wines!” But then you saw the labels and didn’t understand what it is,that you are holding in your hand so just had a bottle from a different country? I can understand the confusion, sometimes even I am confused of all the German words stated on the label. Now I would like to help and explain a few terms and words to make your life easier!
Austrian labels are very similar to German ones but since 2001, they introduced their own DAC (Districtus Austriae Controllatus) system which is closer to the well-known French AOP (Appellation d’Origine Protégé) system. Which means it is better to take a look on both way of labelling.
A good Austrian wine label will display the producer’s name and location, the wine’s region and maybe the village/vineyard of origin, its sweetness, the grape variety it’s made from, and an indication of the grapes’ ripeness level (Prädikat). This is what we can see on most of the German labels too. Let’s take a closer look on this system first:
There are three official tiers of Austrian wine quality:
- Prädikatswein: the top tier of Austrian wine quality classification. The term Prädikat means ‘distinction’. Austria’s wine classification is strongly based around grape ripeness (must weight). This is graded on the KMW Klosterneuberg Must Weight scale. One KMW means 1g of sugar per 100g of grape must. There are seven types of Prädikat wines:
- Spätlese: means ‘late harvest’. Spätlese wines are made from grapes picked at least a week after the start of harvest, mmust have a minimum of 19 KMW.
- Auslese: means ‘selected harvest’. Auslese wines are made from ripe grapes (min. 21 KMW) affected to some noble rotter grapes.
- Beerenauslese (BA): means ‘berry selection’. Super-ripe grapes (min. 25 KMW) remain on the vine and are ‘selected’ only if affected by botrytis.
- Ausbruch: denotes a wine made exclusively from botrytis-affected berries.
- Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA): means ‘dry berry selection’. The sweetest of all, the grapes are left on the vine until reaching a botrytized and raisin-like state, with highly concentrated sugars (30 KMW) which will give them more concentration and complexity.
- Eiswein: means ‘ice wine’, and indicates that the grapes (min. 25 KMW) were harvested and pressed while naturally frozen. Obviously this is the one they harvest at last, only when the temprature is right (usually -7°C).
- Strohwein / Schilfwein: literally ‘straw wine’ and ‘reed wine’. The grapes (min. 25 KMW) are air-dried, traditionally on mats made of straw or reeds, to concentrate their flavors and sugars.
- Qualitätswein: Austria’s second tier of wine quality classification. It means literally ‘quality wine’. All Qualitätswein comes from an officially recognized Austrian wine-growing region, and there are only 35 permitted grape varieties which can blended into a bottle.
- Landwein: means ‘country wine’, just like Vin de Pays. Just like the IGP system in the European Union.
That system is used widly in the country but as I mentioned in 2001 they created a different system to categorize the wine style of the region regarding the grape variety allowed in that DAC. In this way DAC is more like the appellation system used in France, Italy and Spain. Each DAC has two different styles: ’Klassik’ for lighter, fruit-driven wines and ’Reserve’ for slightly weightier wines, possibly with a some influence of oak or botrytis. It is worth to seek out these terms on the bottle to get an idea, what we are buying!
There are only 16 DAC titles in Austria:
- Eisenberg DAC ( only for Blaufrankisch)
- Kamptal DAC (for Gruner Veltliner and Riesling)
- Kremstal DAC (for Gruner Veltliner and Riesling)
- Leithaberg DAC (for Gruner Veltliner, Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), Chardonnay and Blaufrankisch)
- Mittelburgenland DAC (only for Blaufrankisch)
- Neusiedlersee DAC (only for Zweigelt)
- Traisental DAC (for Gruner Veltliner and Riesling)
- Weinviertel DAC (only for Gruner Veltliner) and
- Wiener Gemischter Satz DAC (it is a traditional white blend from Vienna)
- Rosalia DAC (Blaufränkisch, Zweigelt)
- Vulkanland Steiermark DAC (Welschriesling, Pinot blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris Riesling, Gelber Muskateller, Sauvignon Blanc, Traminer)
- Südsteiermark DAC (Welschriesling, Pinot blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris Riesling, Gelber Muskateller, Sauvignon Blanc, Traminer)
- Weststeiermark DAC (Blauer Wildbacher (as Schilcher), Welschriesling, Pinot blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot gris, Riesling, Gelber Muskateller, Sauvignon blanc, Traminer)
- Carnuntum DAC (Pinot blanc, Chardonnay, Grüner Veltliner, Blaufränkisch, Zweigelt)
- Wachau DAC (Grüner Veltliner, Riesling, Pinot blanc, Pinot gris, Chardonnay, Neuburger, Muskateller, Sauvignon blanc, Traminer, Frühroter Veltliner, Müller-Thurgau, Muskat Ottonel, Roter Veltliner, Gemischter Satz, Pinot Noir, St. Laurent, Zweigelt)
- Ruster Ausbruch DAC (one or more white Qualitätswein grape varieties)
This system hasn’t replace the Prädikat system but where both is present, this takes precedence over any consideration of Prädikat. This makes understanding the label difficult, another way to indentify easier Austria’s quality wines is their unique capsules and screw-caps, which are decorated with the Austrian flag colours. These shows a quality wine that has passed official quality testing procedures.
That is one more system we should mention which is unique for only one region that we haven’t mentioned. Wachau has created its own appellation system. The quality and style of the region’s wines are communicated by the terms Steinfeder, Federspiel and Smaragd. This three-tier system was created by the Vinea Wachau – a winegrowers’ alliance similar to Germany’s VDP.
- Steinfeder wines are the lightest in style: fresh, fruity and tangy, with a maximum of 11.5% ABV.
- Federspiel wines are the middleweight category, with the power and elegant precision of a hunting falcon (federspiel means ‘falconry’) and a 11.5% – 12.5% alcohol level.
- Smaragd wines are the richest and fullest-bodied, with a minimum of 12% alcohol.
These terms can be used exclusively by Wachau wines – most commonly dry, white Riesling and Gruner Veltliner but also the occasional rosé made from Zweigelt.
These are the most important labelling terms to look after when you are choosing Austrian wines but let me give you some additional words to understand, if you don’t speak German:
Abfüller – Bottler or shipper.
Erzeugerabfüllung – Wine bottled by the producer.
Extra Trocken – Extra dry wine, up to 4 gr./liter residual sugar.
Gutsabfüllung – Estate bottled wine.
Halbtrocken – Medium-dry (literally half-dry), between 9 – 12 gr./liter residual sugar.
Lieblich – Medium-sweet (off-sweet), between 12 – 45 gr./liter residual sugar.
Prüfnummer – The code number given by the Austrian wine testing authorities. Austrian Qualitätswein, Prädikatswein and DAC wines undergo a chemical analysis, a tasting commission comprising state authorised experts and, in the case of DAC wines, a further test to confirm grape and regional typicity before being granted the Prüfnummer. The presence of this number on the bottle together with the Austrian red and white striped capsule confirms a wines has passed these qualitycontrols.
Rotwein – Red wine.
Sekt – Dry sparkling wine, most is from the Vienna region and is made from either Grüner Veltliner or one of the Pinot grape varieties.
Süss – Sweet wine, in excess of 45 gr./liter residual sugar.
Trocken – Dry wine, up to 9 gr./liter residual sugar.
Weingut – Wine estate.
Weinkellerei – Winery.
Weisswein – White wine.
Winzergenossenschaft – Wine growers’ co-operative.
I know this language is not the easiest one but I hope I could help with this article and now you will discover more wines from this country!
