 |
What is striking is the development in recent years away from high-alcohol, toasty, wood-spicy, thick blockbusters towards cool, fine, taut, much leaner and yet immensely expressive red wines, which today reflect their origin much more clearly than their sometimes somewhat overloaded ancestors. Even those producers who were pioneers of the modern, concentrated and new-wood-spiced style, and who often mastered it perfectly, have in some cases made a complete turnaround and today produce cool, taut, demanding wines. Although they sometimes do not sell as easily as their predecessors, probably because the clientele had become accustomed to the heavy reds, which were also warmly recommended to them by the experts with a flood of points, they are also worthy of any attention in international comparison. Especially the Blaufränkisch have their models here quite clearly on the northern Rhone, and one often really does not want to commit oneself in blind tastings.
Among the dry white wines, there have always been some first-class examples - especially Chardonnays from a few privileged sites. But other Burgundy varieties, some Veltliners and even Welschrieslings can also turn out excellent, especially since the latter often have a completely different status here than in Styria. In the meantime, there are also more and more producers experimenting with mash fermentation of different varieties, sometimes with very impressive results.
We tasted over 400 wines for this BEST OF. You can find the best ones listed here and as always also as PDF. Links to all wines can be found by clicking on the headings. Only for the country wines, among which are some of the most interesting wines of the area, we can only provide a general link at the end of the text. Unfortunately, not all top producers accepted our invitation, which is why some well-known names are missing from the list. But we will stay tuned.