Reimagine Pannonia was a very special event I have attended last year. I think we can learn a lot about our world from this experience and how does it affect the wines we are drinking. It frames a question that has hovered over Burgenland and the Pannonian wines for more than a century: what happens to a wine region when political borders shift faster than cultural identity?
After attending the final day of Reimagine Pannonia last year, the answer felt clearer than ever. The Pannonian story is not something to invent or redesign. It is something to recover, layer by layer, glass by glass. The closing day, titled Reimagine Wine: Zeit für neue Antworten, stripped the idea back to its core. No spectacle, no distraction. Just wine, history, and the quiet confidence that comes from knowing where something truly belongs.
Wine as the Original Storyteller
The opening speech that day challenged one of the most overused words in wine communication: narrative. The argument was almost disarmingly simple. Wine does not need a narrative built around it. Wine is the narrative.
An expressive wine speaks far beyond grape variety. It carries soils, slopes, microclimates, but also memory — political decisions, lost trade routes, cultural interruptions. In few places is this as tangible as in Burgenland, once the western edge of the Hungarian half of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and today Austria’s youngest federal state.
Pannonian Wine and the Weight of Borders
Until 1918, Burgenland belonged to Hungary. When it joined Austria in 1921–22, its historic capital, Sopron (Ödenburg), remained on the Hungarian side. That single decision reshaped the region.
Infrastructure tells the story even today. Roads, railways, trade routes — all designed to lead east, towards Sopron. Wine followed those paths. Sopron was the commercial heart of the region’s wine trade, a place of prosperity still visible in its architecture.
Then borders moved. Burgenland’s winemakers were suddenly cut off from their centre and forced to turn west, towards Vienna. Almost immediately after, the Iron Curtain cut straight through the Pannonian basin, splitting a historically unified wine landscape in two.
What followed was not failure, but uncertainty. Local traditions weakened. Confidence in native grapes eroded. International fashion stepped in. Grüner Veltliner expanded because it was reliable and marketable. French-style blends appeared because they felt modern. Meanwhile, Blaufränkisch and Furmint — the true markers of Pannonian wine — quietly slipped into the background.
Revival Was a Choice, Not an Accident
One of the strongest messages of the day was that the rediscovery of Pannonian identity was not inevitable. It required intention. A small group of winemakers began to look backward in order to move forward. They revived Blaufränkisch as a serious, site-driven red, brought Furmint back into focus and worked patiently, building quality that could stand internationally without sacrificing origin.
Recognition came first from outside Austria. Only later did it return home.
Today, Blaufränkisch is widely regarded — by top Burgenland estates and international merchants alike — as the gold standard of the region. A grape that exists across borders under different names (Blaufränkisch, Kékfrankos, Frankovka), yet speaks one coherent language of place. This is Pannonian wine in its purest form.
Reimagine Pannonia as a Living Concept
Reimagine Pannonia takes this regained clarity and turns it into a public, curated platform. Led by Christian Tschida, Hannes Schuster and Roland Velich, the initiative aims to sharpen awareness of Pannonia’s terroir and elevate Burgenland’s origin wines without overexplaining them.
The vision is precise: support producers, work closely with gastronomy and trade, and allow regional identity to be experienced rather than advertised.
The festival reflects this thinking. Over several days at Schloss Esterházy, twenty-eight leading estates from the Pannonian region present their wines alongside chefs, sommeliers, artists and writers. The Saint Martin’s Day Tasting brings benchmark producers together in the Haydnsaal. The Pannonisches Dinner explores how Pannonia translates to the plate. Culture and wine are not separated — they inform each other.
The final day, which I attended, focused entirely on reflection. Discussions on the future of viticulture, enjoyment and wine communication were anchored by Christian Seiler’s keynote, returning again and again to one central idea: a strong story must be told clearly, repeatedly — and it must be true.
Pannonian Wine in the Glass
What made this day convincing was how directly history showed up in the wines.
Blaufränkisch, once nearly sidelined, appeared confident and precise. Structured but not heavy. Saline, fresh, and quietly expressive. Across producers, the consistency of intent was striking. These were not wines chasing trends, but wines comfortable in their own landscape.
Furmint, still relatively rare in Burgenland, immediately shifted attention. Its linearity, tension and mineral depth traced a direct line back to its Hungarian roots, reminding everyone that Pannonia wine existed long before modern borders.
A few tasting highlights captured this especially well:
Wenzel – Furmint “Garten Eden” 2015
Honeyed aromatics with orange, mango, apricot, cardamom, white pepper and acacia. On the palate, layers of honey, peach, quince and citrus unfold with high acidity and remarkable length. Complex, structured and balanced, showing how age-worthy and serious Pannonian Furmint can be.
Velich – TO 2016
Deep and expressive, with ripe tropical fruit — pineapple, mango and orange — framed by vanilla and honeysuckle. Completely dry, yet with a subtle honeyed impression. Juicy, medium-plus body, perfectly balanced, finishing long with a distinctive orange-driven freshness.
Moric – Blaufränkisch Lutzmannsburg Alte Reben 2011
Mature but vibrant. Spicy dominance with blueberry pie, dried roses, smoky and earthy notes, even a hint of animal character. Surprisingly youthful on the palate, with ripe, smooth tannins, excellent freshness and a long, juicy finish.
Paul Achs – Blaufränkisch Ried Ungerberg 2016
Darker and more savoury in style. Early tertiary notes on the nose. The palate is smooth yet structured, with dark berries, cherries, chocolate, coffee and mint. Balanced alcohol, great freshness and a long, fruity-peppery finish.
Why Reimagine Pannonia Matters
Reimagine Pannonia restores coherence to a region fragmented by politics, not culture. Austria and Hungary remain deeply connected through the Pannonian basin — through shared soils, climate patterns, grape varieties and agricultural logic that ignore borders.
Three ideas stayed with me after that final day:
- Wine carries the real narrative. The more authentic the expression, the stronger the story.
- Pannonia is older than Austria and Hungary. Borders shifted, but the viticultural logic of the region did not.
- Revival requires intention. Blaufränkisch, Furmint and Pannonian identity returned because winemakers insisted on them — not because trends allowed it.
Reimagine Pannonia is not about creating a new identity for Burgenland. It is about removing the noise, reclaiming the region’s original voice, and giving Pannonia wine the space — and the confidence — to speak clearly again.
The Author
Interesting to read about a renaissance about Hungarian cultivars in the Burgenland and the reconnecting of Pannonia as a whole. Thankfully this seems to be a growing trend, (viticulture & viniculture transcending borders) in the wine world, with Collio in Friuli being another example that comes to mind. Particularly interesting to hear about Austrian wine makers discovering/rediscovering the versality of Furmint, which shows promise as potential as being more widely cultivated with the threat of climate change affecting more and more vineyards worldwide.
Thank you for sharing your insights and especially your mention to Collio because now I am intrigued to look into that region as well and discover its wines. I am happ you enjoyed reading this article.
Pannonian wine should include the wine regions of Osijek, Kutjevo, Baranja in Croatia – if as you say borders only came later.
These places are further away and historically more connected to the Slavonia and Danube wine region creating a better bond between Hungary and Croatia, not really with Austria.