This was my second time at VieVinum and, like at VieVinum 2024, expectations were not disappointed. Austria is a great wine country in qualitative terms, not quantitative – so you don’t need huge exhibition halls to contain its players. The Hofburg, Vienna’s imperial palace, is more than sufficient: and your eyes are grateful, because tasting wine in the Festsaal (the hall shown in this article’s cover image) is far more fascinating than doing it inside an anonymous reinforced concrete structure.
Long live the small dimensions of these great producers, then.
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Obviously, with representation from 521 wineries and their 2694 products, you need to enter the field with a precise game plan, or risk getting lost in the maze of DACs that don’t really interest us. The roadmap therefore was:
- Kamptal for a producer that intrigued me
- Bubbles zone, because I don’t usually love Austrian sparkling wines and you need to challenge yourself
- Wachau to evaluate two producers who impressed me elsewhere
- Styria for a producer who fascinated me in the past
- The internationals for a break
- Burgenland for a long grand finale, because it’s a schizophrenic zone
Hirsch, which disappointed me a bit
First stop was at Hirsch‘s booth. I had found their wines very interesting at the Falstaff Weißweingala 2025 and therefore bought some, which I haven’t drunk yet. Given that Lower Austrian whites need time to give their best and these events certainly don’t do them justice, I was quite disappointed with the tasting. The Kammern Grüner Veltliner 2025 seemed to give very little to the palate at the moment, it’s tense and direct, which is certainly the house style, but also an unattractive approach in this case.
The Zöbing Riesling 2025 has the same problem as what I tasted with the Kammern GV, the finish shows some fruit, but not much substance. They’re not poor wines, quite the contrary – but they don’t give particular pleasure. Compliments to the producer for bringing five specimens from different vintages of what is perhaps his most important wine: the Lamm Kammern Reserve Grüner Veltliner.
I tasted the 2021 which seemed still closed, certainly the salinity is fascinating and with such structure it’s legitimate to dream. The 2017 is excellent, because it’s still tense but not rigid, rather, it softens, takes shape and seems in a splendid moment of its evolution. It can compete with the best wines of Kamptal, in my opinion.
In this progression, I expected great things from the 2006, but, despite it being a beautiful wine, it seemed already in a declining phase and less attractive compared to the 2017. The acidity here has lost tension and the fruit seems frayed. Generally, I expected a more accessible style or one that over the years would follow an almost Wachau-like progression, but I found products that were a bit hard and I’m not sure there’s a time window when these wines would truly fascinate me.
The bubbles
Apart from L’Autrichienne by Ebner-Ebenauer, I haven’t yet encountered Austrian sparkling wines that made me fall in love. And there wasn’t destined to be love at first sight today either. The already known Brut Rosé N.V. by Jurtschitsch works very well, but that’s all. Zuschmann Schöfmann never fails to disappoint me and their Grosse Reserve Chardonnay Extra Brut 2021 seemed devoid of momentum and the Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut N.V. by Allram has good structure and at least doesn’t do damage.
This year the bubbles suffered a sort of apartheid, confined to the palace foyer, like beggars. It’s a reasonable choice: this way enthusiasts of the genre don’t have to rush between various stands, the infrastructure necessary for proper maintenance of these wines is guaranteed and it gives an impression of unity in the sparkling effort. Impossible not to wonder though, if having separated this area from the rest isn’t a way of whispering something to us about their quality.
The Wachau: Alzinger and Weinhofmeisterei Mathias Hirtzberger
Moving on to things that are truly good, regarding the Wachau I had the goal of re-tasting wines and producers who particularly struck me in recent months. The first is the very tall (physically) and very clear (enologically) Alzinger. Here there was the usual problem of these wines in this context. Wachau bottles are, in youth, scribbles that become intricate and sensual textures with age. Obviously these producers must participate in events like VieVinum because here they don’t just propose their products, but also do networking, strike deals and so on. But, as I also said with Emmerich Knoll, freshly bottled wine or even barrel samples don’t have the characteristics to be appreciated in this context.
Anyway, this year on another occasion I tasted a spectacular Smaragd Steinertal Grüner Veltliner 2016 from Alzinger and wanted to better know his portfolio. The Federspiel Hochstrasser Grüner Veltliner 2025 already tastes of Wachau, with its verticality, sinusoidal acidity, powerful salinity and fruit that adorns all this tension. Great wine. Even better the very young Smaragd Steinertal Grüner Veltliner 2025 and Smaragd Loibenberg Riesling 2025, the latter with interesting notes of citrus blossom and a structure that still hides much, but promises to support a fruit that for now is shy. Leo Alzinger’s wife is a war machine and wanted to continue pouring other tastings, but rhythm and measure are necessary at events like this and I hope I didn’t offend her by interrupting this machine-gun fire of whites.
Mathias Hirtzberger‘s wines had fascinated me at Falstaff Weißweingala 2025 and it seems to me that the winery also represents something interesting in the Wachau panorama. First of all, the younger son who breaks away from the paternal castle (the enormous Franz Hirtzberger senior) is a curious story in a very traditionalist context like the Wachau. Moreover, at first glance, the man seems to have playful ways that contrast with the precision of his wines. A bit like his labels, which combine heraldry with little hearts.
I fell in love with the wines. Even the already mentioned caveat of context and age of wines here only partially restrains the perceived value. The Zier Federspiel Riesling 2025 is friendly, but not simple: it has aromas of tropical fruit and a quick and elegant pace. The Smaragds, being from 2025, are in their “terrible twos”: lots of energy, even unruly, but also enormous potential. The not-shy alcoholic note of the Kollmütz Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2025 is balanced by pure fruit and powerful salinity. The Ried Gaisberg Riesling Smaragd 2025 has freshness, floral aromas that reminded me of some Ried Klaus Riesling Smaragd by Jamek and a structure that has just begun to whisper what it will become when grown. Also energetic the Kollmitz Smaragd Riesling 2025, but broodier in profiles – at the moment it also seems more precise than the Gaisberg and what charm its complexity has!
We’ll talk about this producer again, I hope to visit him in the coming months and Mathias Hirtzberger’s wife gave us a few minutes and the chat is now on Instagram. I found interesting the point about the difficulty of finding workers for terraced vineyards, which Knoll had also pointed out to me – it would be interesting to do some accounting for producers and understand how rare and how much labor costs compared to profits and compare this measure to other wine regions. Interesting then that the Wachau climate is still considered “fortunate,” a notion that some retailers challenge indicating the eastern part of the valley as too hot (the winery instead is located right in the middle). Be that as it may, centuries ago younger sons went on Crusades, today they make incredible wines: so much for those who say the old times were better!
Styria: Erwin Sabathi and the others
If the Wachau is the royal line of Austrian wine, Styria has some feudal lords and too many commoners. Plainly speaking, the three Styrian DACs, which overall are really too large to be consistent, have some names of great prestige (Sabathi, Tement, Neumeister), but the average quality remains very low – and between the two extremes there’s a missing “middle class” (excluding rare cases like Frauwallner and Polz) that would guarantee a good level. Perhaps, but I should verify this, the problem is also the vineyards: the big names have Grand Cru parcels available that alone are worth the purchase, the others don’t.
Be that as it may, Erwin Sabathi winery had two examples of Ried Pössnitzberger Kapelle Sauvignon Blanc and two of Ried Pössnitzberger Kapelle Chardonnay. We’re talking about a top area of a top vineyard. All four bottles had in common the characteristic of a rich perfume and a creamy body contrasted by a smoky note on the palate that created a fascinating contrast.
Regarding the Sauvignon Blanc, the 2019 seemed perfectly resolved to me. The nose was tropical, with notes of melon, candied mandarin peel and elderberry. Then the surprising smoky palate put everyone in line, before the eternal finish of a bottle I suspect could last forever. Similar and very serious the 2017, this time with a tropical nose with notes of lychee and melissa. Saline finish and wow, what terroir!
In the Chardonnays the 2019 seemed as exceptional to me as the Sauvignons: slightly more opulent on the nose compared to the vineyard neighbors and with a less Styrian imprint, but lively and bright. The 2017 instead I think had a poor vintage, because the nose is very tropical, practically a pina colada, but then the body is empty, flat. Exited the scene without even entering it.
To give everyone a chance and challenge my opinions about the average level of Styrian wine, I stopped at two random booths. The first was Der Gollenz, whose Eruption Brut Reserve seemed unable to unite the fruit with the chosen winemaking method and the Viarum Brut only has good perlage to its credit. Better, but not too much, it went with Frühwirth, whose Sauvignon Blanc 2025 is simple, but not bad for that reason, with its freshness and pyrazines at full throttle. Slightly more complex the good Ried Hochwarth Weissburgunder 2023 and the Vom Vulkan Welschriesling 2023 is exactly the stereotype of Welschriesling: interesting nose of overripe apple, hay and meadow, and dense but mute body. Classic.
The international interludes
Already a lot going on, refreshment break and international guests interlude. This area is the most varied of the event also in human terms. You find the winery rappresentatives who expected to be in a completely different type of event, the ones that want to pour you their entire portfolio, those who are there to enjoy themselves, those who are there and have already enjoyed themselves and slur their words, the ones who know nothing about the wines they’re proposing and the Germans who – surprise surprise – drink beer.
I started with Ktima Gerovassiliou (Κτήμα Γεροβασιλείου) and I don’t know why since two years ago I had already tasted their wines and they seemed ordinary to me. I confirm, they are ordinary. The White 2025 is a good blend of Assyrtiko and Malagoutsia, the Μαλαγουζια (Malagouzia) 2025 reminds me of Welschriesling for its subdued nose and mute body – a good aperitif, that’s it. The best of the round is the Viognier 2024 but what can I say? in my opinion it mainly demonstrates that Viognier shouldn’t be in those vineyards. Wide palate with apricot jam flavors, but lacks structure.
The edition’s guest was Georgia and I only gave space to Château Mukhrani, admirably presented by the agent for the local market. The winemaker here has Bordeaux training and it shows, in the sense that too many wines are replicas of bottles that are made better in the Gironde department. The Goruli Mtsvane 2023 is a round, versatile, gastronomic white: the winemaker’s heavy hands stand out on everything. Not a bad wine, but doesn’t excite me as a concept. Much more typical instead the Shavkapito 2021, a red with slightly rustic tannins, but fresh, light and well-balanced. A wine that deserves attention despite seeming not to want it. The reserve version, the Réserve Royale Shavkapito 2020, in its search for excellence loses typicity and with it its soul. I liked the algae perfume and slight reduction of the Qvevri Red 2020, which however offends me because only a single-digit percentage of the wine matures in qvevri. Finally, the Réserve Royale Saperavi 2019 is almost a Bordeaux Merlot: lots of cherry, lots of oak, very round. A good wine that doesn’t speak Georgian.
Better I fell on German soil with Dönnhoff and its very nice representative. I’m not an expert on German wines, I’m approaching them, but I’m a neophyte. Here I seem to have found interesting quality though.
The Grauburgunder Trocken 2025 is a classic well-made Pinot Grigio. The level rises with the Tonschiefer Riesling Trocken 2025: very clean, precise, and still very young. The Roxheimer Höllenpfad Riesling Trocken 2024 follows the same style, but already shows some of its cards: it has an herbaceous nose that reminds me of gin and a long crystalline finish, purity that I also found in the Krötenpfuhl Riesling GG 2024. This style reminded me a bit of Hirsch, but these wines are endowed with greater strength. Unjudgeable for me who doesn’t know the category, but absolutely captivating the Oberhäuser Leistenberg Riesling Kabinett 2025, whose Auslese-like vivacity is balanced by the feeling of fullness due to the category’s residual sugar. A beautiful experience.
Leaving the area I notice a Georgian wine representative who, free from guests, watches Euphoria on his phone. I wonder what he thinks of Sydney Sweeney.
Burgenland at war
I have a soft spot for Burgenland for many reasons. The first is that I love Blaufränkisch, the second is that I’ve always met available, friendly winemakers with clear ideas coming from there, the third is that these wines – even those at the top of the quality pyramid – are still favorably priced. The fourth reason is that in the region’s DACs there’s a very lively battle underway between the two wine souls of this land: the traditionalist and the contemporary one. It’s not just Gesellmann vs Moric, all local producers seem to passionately take sides in one camp or the other.
Think about it, the Wachau is tradition – and thank heaven, woe to touch the dynastic perfection. Kamptal seems resolved towards a modern style, intelligently different from that of the Danube neighbors. We’ve talked about Styria. Among the great regions remains Burgenland, where the battle rages.
And in my opinion this fracture pushes the actors of both camps to surpass themselves, to continuously improve because it’s not just about demonstrating their value compared to the neighbor, but above all demonstrating that their idea of wine is the best. It’s a war of religion, not a commercial clash. The result is that Gesellmann and his followers produce some of the most precise traditional wines (oak and body) I’ve ever tasted and Moric and his followers have bottles where terroir is translated in a transparent and dazzling way in its clarity. Don’t stop, please, keep giving each other hell.
I started with Heinrich, the giant of natural wines that I had appreciated at MondoVino 2025. In this case he partially disappointed me, not because there was something wrong with the wines but because nothing really struck me. Oh When The Saints Petnat, for the category it belongs to (and which I don’t love) is honest and even elegant: omnipresent apple aromas, but the bubble is not at all heavy.
Moving to whites, the Chardonnay Leithaberg 2024 seemed incomplete to me: time on lees gave it density, but aromas are minimal. The blend Edelgraben Chardonnay Weissburgunder 2024 and the Weisze Freyheit 2023 are fresh, but with very little character. The red Graue Freyheit 2022 shows better, with good tannic grip that remains measured, without particular fruit density, but acidity keeps it alive. The Out Of The Dark Blaufränkisch 2023 and the Blaufränkisch Alter Berg 2021 are clean and pure as the producer likes, with the second more juicy than the first: very few cues. I’d like to retry the Pinot Freyheit 2023, because the winery’s non-interventionist approach lets the Pinot Noir nose express itself freely and the resulting aromas have character and freshness. Very elegant tannins complete a very balanced picture.
A quality jump occurred with the last two reds, among the most known and ambitious of the house: the Gabarinza 2020 has character, tannins, fruit concentration. Fresh, but juicy and intense. Also elegant the Salzberg 2021, which controls its power and oak passage very well. Overall it seems to me this winery seeks the primary and neutral expression of fruit. No wine is “wrong,” but this search for purity seems to me to have led to aseptic bottles without flourishes.
Staying with the Pannobile group, i.e. the producers most in line with Burgenland’s zeitgeist, I moved towards Claus Preisinger‘s booth. While Heinrich tends to get out of the way, this now cult winery in Austria gets in the middle, with natural and bio methods, but doesn’t fear to intervene between grape and bottle. Given my poor sympathy for natural wines and similar, I expected little.
How wrong I was. Three tastings and three experiences to remember. The Attila Furmint has an innate freshness given by acidity and manages to fill and satisfy the mouth while remaining extremely linear. The Triple B is the best expression of fresh Blaufränkisch I’ve ever encountered: aromas and flavors branch out into multiple expressions, yet it remains immediate and sharp, in perfect balance between medium body and lively and vibrant fruit. I also fell in love with the Pinot Noir, all played on pairs: juicy and fruity, fresh and spicy, fun and rich. It’s not at all lacking character: it has tannins and the medium and aromatic body shows a certain arrogance in maintaining itself firm in front of the many nuances released by this enological Pandora’s box.
I would have so many questions for this producer, curiosity that a context like VieVinum cannot exhaust. For example, knowing they often launch into unusual practices (i.e. treading grapes with feet), I wonder what leads them to these solutions: do they do a test, vinifying two identical wines except for that specific practice and then decide which is better? Or are they instinctive choices? Be that as it may, today my convictions about these types of wines lost, but the wine enthusiast in me won big time.
The last Pannobile member I encountered was Gsellmann Andreas. Nothing earth-shattering here. The Zu Tisch Weiss receives tropical aromas from its Muskat-Ottonel balance and thanks to its Kabinett sweetness can please even those who don’t love wine. The Pannobile Ried Goldberg Weissburgunder has a nice body and is very much in line with the varietal, worth retrying.
Another producer, less extreme but still with the ambition to be in line with the zeitgeist, that I wanted to meet was Wachter-Wiesler. He also gave us a few minutes that you can find on Instagram. I found the wines solid and interesting: specifically, they seem like a winery still in progress, far from having defined itself, and this is often the beginning of great things.
Specifically, the two Welschrieslings (Deutsch Schützen Welschriesling 2024 and Eisenberg Welschriesling 2024) are very far from the basic products encountered also in other areas of VieVinum. The trademarks are spicing, depth and polyphenolic finish, with the Eisenberg slightly more fruity and rich than the Deutsch Schützen). These are bottles that want to make the leap, and largely succeed.
Equally interesting the two Blaufränkisch, always from the same two municipalities, 2022 vintage this time. The Deutsch Schützen is earthy, with also notes of game, incense, mulberries and a freshness not separated from tannins. Serious but graceful finish of black tea and cloves. The Eisenberg instead is more floral, but the producer’s approach is recognizable in the best possible way.
Finally, their wine they seem most attached to, the Béla-Jóska Eisenberg 2023, is simple, with pleasant earthy and strawberry notes. It seems like they want to make it a manifesto, but I would focus on the villages.
Having concluded the contemporary approach, I head towards the most elegant of the traditionalists: Gesellmann. Now, the approach is almost in antithesis with the zeitgeist, but the ability to produce precise and expressive wines is exceptional: this must be said because the propaganda of some actors (often retailers, more than producers) of the indie scene would like to pass off foreign bodies as poor and dependent on technical tricks. No, here the quality in the cellar exists and is very high.
The whites are those that interested me least. The Chardonnay 2025 has a clear intent: to be an international wine, juicy and with great contribution from oak. It has even popcorn notes, as well as tropical ones and both intentions and execution are simple, but the saline finish gives it some dimension. The Chardonnay Ried Steinriegel 2024 shows more terroir than the entry version and is more tense, with notes of lemon and lemon balm.
The blend Hochberc Weiss 2024 is a nice mix of obvious elements, for the typology: spicing, lots of stone fruit and obviously oak. It fills the mouth, has salinity and is very gastronomic. It’s a blend of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc: in short, a declaration of love towards the classic — and if you’re curious about the terminology, the difference between a blend like this and what’s commonly called a cuvée is worth understanding, as explained in this piece on assemblage vs cuvée. Same goes for the Cuvée Sol 2023, which however disappointed me a bit as it lacked tension and character.
The winery however is known for reds, and here the matter becomes really interesting. Serious and intense the Blaufränkisch Creitzer – Reserve 2023, here too perfect for the table and I believe with lots of life ahead. The Opus Eximium 2022, of which I loved the 2019 vintage, in this case seemed less intense to me. Certainly juicy and rich in spiced flavors and sour cherries, but perhaps not so destined to evolve long in bottle. Not dissimilar the judgment on Bela Rex 2022, while the Hochberc (Blaufränkisch) 2022 is really high level, thanks to spiced and earthy tones that almost build a fabric around the solid tannic structure.
Where good becomes exceptional though is with the flagship G 2022 and its enormous complexity of flavors of morello cherries, cloves and earth. Mature just enough to fill a light and linear structure. The long finish of black tea made me wonder if this isn’t the platonic ideal of Austrian red variety blend.
Finding two sweet wines was a pleasant surprise, drinking them was overwhelming. The Sämling Beerenauslese 2022 is exceptional, mature and with notes of honey and candied orange. It’s lively, but doesn’t flaunt it, also thanks to the almost resinous body.
The Sämling Trockenbeerenauslese 2017 was the best wine tasted during the day: incredible in its also resinous body. For aromas and posture it reminds me of an old villa, rich in perfumes of sandalwood, papaya, florals and dark honey. A complexity that can last forever.
In summary, it seems to me that Gesellmann, whose brief interview is available on Instagram, is a producer who has very clear what he seeks stylistically. The reds are the zenith of that approach in Austria, and the quality of cellar work, finally ennobled, is evident. The sweet wines surprised and charmed me and I found them even better than those exhibited by Kracher.
Yes, because the plan was to conclude with the prince winery of Austrian sweet wine. I don’t think the winery’s quality has dropped dramatically, probably, also judging by the lineup, they have little interest in participating in VieVinum and send in the reserves. If I were them, I would avoid participating altogether, because the bottles were weak.
The Auslese Zweigelt 2022 doesn’t have great density, it’s a simple sweet red wine with notes of wild strawberries and cherries. The Cuvée Beerenauslese 2021, given the acidity, could have a nice future, but at the moment it’s just restless, with bursting notes of orange juice. Very good instead the Kollektion Grande Cuvee Trockenbeerenauslese 2022, which was silky, with notes of honey, flowers and tropical fruit embellishing its texture.
Final impressions
The wines tasted at VieVinum pleased me more than those of the previous edition. It was mainly about good planning and attention in not getting lost at booths that didn’t really interest me. In this sense the completeness of this event is fascinating, which truly allows a 360-degree vision of the Austrian wine scene.
Obviously everything is partial, quick, hurried, but the possibility of tasting the Wachau and natural wines, familiar faces and new ones in the same day is truly priceless and, for those who love Austrian wine, unmissable.
My awards
- Best wine: Sämling Trockenbeerenauslese 2017 by Gesellmann
- Other exceptional wines:
- Kollmütz Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2025, Ried Gaisberg Riesling Smaragd 2025 and Kollmitz Smaragd Riesling 2025 by Weinhofmeisterei Mathias Hirtzberger;
- Ried Pössnitzberger Kapelle Sauvignon Blanc 2019, Ried Pössnitzberger Kapelle Sauvignon Blanc 2017 and Ried Pössnitzberger Kapelle Chardonnay 2019 by Erwin Sabathi;
- Triple B and Pinot Noir by Claus Preisinger;
- G 2022 and Sämling Beerenauslese 2022 by Gesellmann
- Most dynamic region: Burgenland
- Best international guest: Dönnhoff
- Best young producer: Weinhofmeisterei Mathias Hirtzberger
- Best established producer: Gesellmann
- Biggest disappointment: Heinrich
- Producer to revisit: Claus Preisinger
- Most Eurovision producer: Claus Preisinger
- Most convincing exhibitor: The one watching Euphoria
Read here the comparison between Grüner Veltliner and Riesling.
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