When considering some of the most influential producers leading the charge for Austrian wine, the list is long: Roland Velich, Christian Tschida, Heike and Gernot Heinrich, Gut Oggau, Rennersistas, and on it goes. What do they have in common? They’re all from Burgenland.
For a region that didn’t exist as such until a century ago, Burgenland has emerged as a defining force in Austrian wine. It’s a dramatic shift from just 30 years ago, when Burgenland was poor and peripheral, still shaking off the effects of the Iron Curtain that ran along its eastern edge.
Today, Burgenland feels prosperous. Architecturally arresting wineries and well-kept towns dot the landscape. Wine tourism is an important economic driver in Austria’s second-largest wine region. Most notably, Burgenland has a remarkable density of quality producers working out nuances of terroir, detail, and style in their wines.
From borderland to investment zone
Burgenland is an anomaly in Austrian wine in nearly every respect. That starts with its history. At the end of World War I, Burgenland – the name for a region that was until then Hungarian territory – was ceded to Austria. After World War II, the newly Austrian region was occupied by the Soviets. Choked off from western aid, Burgenland suffered. In 1955, Burgenland was freed from occupation only to have the Iron Curtain drop along its eastern edge and remain there for decades.
After Austria’s entry into the European Union in 1995, Burgenland was named an Objective 1 investment area. The present-day equivalent of more than €1 billion poured in. “EU funding, specifically Objective 1 funding, was of the utmost importance to the wine industry,” says Andrea Weinberger, a project manager for the Wein Burgenland regional association. Christian Zechmeister, the outgoing managing director of the organization, says a direct line can be drawn between these transformative investments and the proliferation of state-of-the-art wineries and high-profile wines that have come to define Burgenland.
The region stretches out long and low, south and east of Vienna, bracketed between the last foothills of the Alps and the expanse of the Pannonian plain. While still considered part of Austria’s cool climate, Burgenland has exceptionally warm, dry, protracted growing seasons. But its historic varieties, especially Blaufränkisch, Welschriesling, and Furmint, were planted for these conditions: drought-tolerant, late-ripening, and able to retain acidity and moderate alcohol levels.
Finally, Burgenland is a red-wine region in a white-wine country. It is synonymous with Blaufränkisch (94 percent of Austria’s plantings of the grape are here). Zweigelt and Sankt Laurent play key supporting roles. Austria’s most famous and most produced white variety Grüner Veltliner only accounts for nine percent of plantings in Burgenland, whereas whites like Welschriesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, and Furmint play a more significant commercial and cultural role.
Finding a regional voice
“From my perspective, what made Burgenland revolutionary was not that it sought to be radical, but that it sought to become more authentic,” says Stephan Schindler, an Austrian native and the co-owner of California-based importer Winemonger, which focuses primarily on Austrian wine. He tells the story of a cluster of producers, including Roland Velich of Moric (whom he represents) and Christian Tschida, who, in the early 2000s, “stopped asking how Burgenland could produce a better Bordeaux or Super Tuscan and instead asked a much more fundamental question: What can Burgenland express that is unique to Burgenland and its terroir?”
Click HERE to read the full article.