AUSTRIAN DRY RIESLING

It may not get star billing, but Austria’s Riesling can and often does rank among the very best, with styles ranging from bracingly fresh and fruity to superbly complex. Stephen Brook selects 30 to try

Although Grüner Veltliner is Austria’s leading white variety, Riesling plays an important role too, with 2,000ha planted, compared to Veltliner’s 14,000ha. At its best, Riesling from Austria is as complex and stylish as top examples from Germany, Alsace or Australia. The Austrians know that it only delivers outstanding wines when planted on dry, stony terraces that enhance exposure to precious sunlight.

Its heartland is the Danube valley west of Vienna. Some of those regions, such as Wagram, are better suited to Grüner Veltliner as their loess soils ideally suit the variety. But parts of Kamptal and Kremstal, and almost all of the Wachau, are brilliant territories for dry Riesling, sharing outcrops of weathered primary rock, including sandstone, schist and gneiss. The large Weinviertel region north of the Danube also has pockets that are good for Riesling, but few examples leave Austria. The Austrian wine authorities have created an appellation system: DAC (Districtus Austriae Controllatus). It seeks to define the most typical wines for each region: for example, both Grüner Veltliner and Riesling can claim DAC status in Kamptal. The system matters little to wine lovers outside Austria, except to note that when the alcohol level is 13% or above, a grower can call the wine a Reserve. Some do, but others don’t bother. In the tasting notes that follow, some wines are technically Reserves but not identified as such.