To my dear sommelier friend: Austria's famous grape variety, Grüner Veltliner

Good morning! Following last week, today we’re diving back into the world of Austrian wine🇦🇹 The photo is of the scenery in Salzburg. It’s the city that hosts the "Salzburg Festival," a classical music festival held every year from late July through the end of August.

During this period, the whole city is wrapped in the atmosphere of the music festival, putting everyone in a celebratory mood. There is also a culture of showing respect to the performers, and that special feeling of everyone dressing in their absolute best to go to a concert is a vibe I think even people who don't like music should experience at least once. It’s a small city, so strolling around on foot is fun too. (It’s also the city where Mozart was born and raised, and you can even visit his birthplace!)

I’ve let my love for Salzburg overflow a bit. Now, back to wine.

As I mentioned last week, 70% of Austrian wine is white wine. Among them, the most widely produced grape variety is "Grüner Veltliner." "Grüner" means "green" in German, originating from the greenish hue of the grape leaves and fruits.

On the other hand, it seems the exact origin of "Veltliner" is unknown. It is an indigenous Austrian variety born from a natural cross between "Savagnin," a white grape variety with a long history in Europe, and a grapevine discovered in St. Georgen in the state of Burgenland.

The main production area in Austria is the yellow area on the map below, "Lower Austria" (Niederösterreich).

Approximately 47% of the cultivated area in this state is Grüner Veltliner. While there are other areas with a high concentration of a single variety—like Chardonnay in the Burgundy region of France accounting for about 51% of its specific area, or Riesling in neighboring Germany accounting for about 62%—this can be considered one of the top-class concentrations of a single variety among the world's major wine regions.

I wondered, if it’s the same region, couldn’t it be 100% the same grape? Why isn’t that the case?

For instance, Lower Austria is about the size of Japan's Iwate Prefecture, which is roughly five times the size of Shiga Prefecture. Even in Shiga, the climate differs between the north and south of Lake Biwa, so it makes sense that the climate would differ across an area five times that size. In fact, there are differences in climate and soil within Lower Austria itself.

Furthermore, it seems common to grow different varieties to maintain diversity in wine style and to match consumer preferences.

I tried a bottle of Grüner Veltliner wine this week.

■ This Week’s Tasting Report
Peter & Paul Grüner Veltliner 2023 | Winzerhof Hoch

This winery is located in Lower Austria, mentioned earlier. Loimer, which I introduced last week, is also there. Looking it up, they are neighbors about 20 minutes away by car. It’s in the northwest of my favorite city, Vienna; although a bit far from Salzburg, it is located to the northeast.

Winzerhof Hoch is a historic winery founded in 1640. They began organic farming in all their vineyards in 2008, and in 2015, they obtained certification from "BIOS," an organic certification body recognized within the EU. Having this certification increases the reliability that the wine is organic, and boosts trust from the market. The certification mark was clearly printed on the back label🌱

— What is organic wine cultivation?
A cultivation method where grapes are grown using nature-derived methods without the use of chemical fertilizers, synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or genetic modification technology.

Austria is focusing heavily on this organic cultivation. Although the figures are from 2023, you can see that the ratio of certified organic vineyards in the country is high. I'll share the figures for reference.
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・Austria: 24% (10,432 ha)
・Italy: 15% (Considered the world's highest level as of 2023, but Austria has surpassed that)
・France: 14%
・Spain: 13% (However, the absolute area is the largest in the world)
・Germany: 9%
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I’m very curious about why the ratio is so high in Austria, but I’d like to touch on that another time🔍

Now, here is the tasting report for the wine I was curious about.

・Appearance: Clear, pale yellow. It feels light and brisk.

・Aroma: Fresh, with notes like apple and white peach. I also feel a floral scent, like burying my face in a bouquet. Rather than complex, it’s a tight, cohesive aroma.

・Taste: The attack isn't strong; it has a mellow mouthfeel. It leaves a linear, simple impression. Once it spreads in the mouth, a vibrant acidity expands all at once, with almost no bitterness felt. And in the finish, a sweetness—somewhat like the appley quality of the grape—lingers gently. This lingering sweetness felt exactly the same as when I drank Loimer’s wine. It let me imagine the characteristics of the grapes from this region of Austria, and it was a very interesting experience.

・Pairing recommendations: The oiliness of Chinese cuisine or white fish carpaccio would likely pair well. And, Austrian local dish "Wiener Schnitzel" would definitely be a perfect match!



Alternatively, matching the apple notes, a "baking" item like an apple-pie-like "Apple Strudel" would also be a good fit.

・Price: 3,300 yen (tax included)/750ml

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This time, I purchased the wine at a wine shop called "Cave de Sensibilité" in the Kakuozan area of Nagoya. I had a fun time purchasing it while chatting with the owner, Mr. Nagano.

Austrian wine is characterized by its strong acidity, and according to Mr. Nagano’s impression, it’s not very popular in Japan. I thought this was an interesting point, so I dug a little deeper.

It's easy to simply think, "Do Japanese people dislike acidity?" but actually, you can't say that definitively. Japanese cuisine has many dishes that utilize acidity, such as vinegared dishes (sunomono) and sushi. The difference seems to lie in "how it's used."



A characteristic of how vinegar is used in Japanese cuisine is not to assert strong acidity on its own, but to finish it with a "harmonized acidity" by combining it with sugar, salt, and dashi stock. Sushi vinegar has sugar and salt added to soften the acidity, and vinegared dishes likewise balance exquisitely with other flavors.

In other words, rather than Japanese palates avoiding acidity itself, perhaps they are just more accustomed to "harmonized acidity," making the "front-facing acidity" found in wines like Grüner Veltliner relatively unfamiliar.

This story is just within the range of what I’ve looked into, so I’m sure there are many opinions. I’d love to hear from professionals again🦻

To return to the topic, the reason for the strong acidity in Austrian wine lies in its cool climate. When the amount of sunlight is low, photosynthesis is relatively less active, and while it is difficult for sugar content to increase, acid metabolism is also not very active, resulting in relatively higher acidity.

In EU production areas, there are "Zones" as climate classifications. Austria is in Zone B, where A is the coolest and C III is the warmest. This shows it is a relatively cool region.

"But expensive Austrian wines feel a little sweeter, don't they?" said Mr. Nagano. When I asked the reason for this, he gave me an interesting explanation.

In high-quality wine production, yield restriction (a cultivation method that reduces the number of bunches that bear fruit on one vine) is often practiced, and the grapevine focuses the nutrients and sugar obtained from photosynthesis into fewer bunches. As a result, grapes with high sugar content can be harvested, and because there is more residual sugar after fermentation, it becomes easier to feel the sweetness. Also, as the yield decreases, the price naturally becomes higher—I see, the relationship between "high price = sweetness" now makes sense.

When I told Mr. Nagano I was studying wine, he said I shouldn't drink alone! He said I should hold a wine party with people from work and drink various wines. So, I have no choice but to host a wine party, and I plan to report on it in a future article, so look forward to it🍷

Mr. Nagano, thank you for your kind service despite my sudden visit!