Editors’ Note: Data open tantalizing invitations to speculation. Wine economist Dr. Karl Storchmann of the American Association of Wine Economists is a master at collecting information, presenting it in clear, compelling graphics, and stepping away to allow each of us to draw our own conclusions. When he looked at wine, beer, and spirits consumption in three of TRINK’s coverage zones over the past century, he found striking disparities and a surprising convergence. What story do they tell you?Per capita wine consumption in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland has fluctuated significantly since the late 19th century (see Figure 1). Switzerland has consistently…
Karl Storchmann has been a Clinical Professor of Economics at New York University since 2009. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Bochum in Germany (1998). Dr. Storchmann is a co-founder and the Editor of the Journal of Wine Economics, and the Executive Director of the American Association of Wine Economists (AAWE). He has taught or held permanent or visiting positions at various universities, including UCLA, Yale University, and Bordeaux Sciences Agro (2014–present). He is an applied microeconomist whose research focuses on environmental and industrial organization issues related to agriculture and the wine market. His most recent work examines the effects of tariffs on the wine industry. He has published wine-related papers in academic journals such as Agricultural Economics, the American Economic Review, Economic Inquiry, the Journal of Wine Economics, the Review of Economics and Statistics, and the Review of Industrial Organization.
For most wine drinkers, Riesling and Grüner Veltliner are gateways to Austrian wine. But with Austria’s wide range of climates and geography, this tiny country offers surprising varietal diversity. Forty-two different wine grapes are native or traditional, with expressions ranging from light and vibrant to rich and baroque. Topping the list are varieties with long histories in Austria: the red grapes Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt, the whites Chardonnay (known in Austria as Morillon) and Sauvignon Blanc. Then there are the 22 grapes on the back half of the list, each accounting for less than 1% of total plantings. All these varieties…...
To mark a recent milestone anniversary, Austria’s association of traditional wine estates (ÖTW) invited into its fold a region that is in many regards the epitome of Herkunft, or origins. The Thermenregion, often held up as Austria’s Burgundy, brings a suitably deep and glorious wine tradition. The ÖTW’s intake process for the Thermenregion is in the final stages of fine-tuning, reports chairman Michael Moosbrugger. Most likely, white wines from Erste Lage, or premier cru, sites from the 2022 vintage will be the first to be classified, followed by the reds. “In joining the ÖTW, it was crucial that the region’s…...
In an age defined by climate emergency, can winegrowers in Austria's warming Wachau react and adapt fast enough to maintain the region's historic pole position?
