In 2013, I moved to Austria and spent most of a year living in the small town of Eisenstadt. There were several cultural difficulties to surmount, not least the language. Despite my decent grasp of German, I found the Austrian dialect all but impenetrable for the first few months. And then there were the drinking customs. Because Austria had forged an impressive international reputation for elegant, high-quality wines, I expected to spend my time savoring delicious Blaufränkisch, or getting to know the top single-vineyard sites of the Wachau. But everywhere I went people just drank a mix of cheap white…
Simon J. Woolf has been writing about natural and orange wine since 2011. He is the award-winning founder of "The Morning Claret" and author of the seminal Amber Revolution (2018) and Foot Trodden (2021), both named New York Times wine books of the year. Simon contributes to Decanter, where he serves as a Regional Chair, as well as World of Fine Wine and Noble Rot. Recently, he launched a consultancy guiding authors in self-publishing. Based in Amsterdam, he is a keen cook and lover of music ranging from Stockhausen to ClownC0re.
Is there a way to understand a vineyard? Wines from certain sites evoke the urge to uncover more about the place and the reason the wines taste the way they do. These are wines that, whatever the vintage or producer, manage to stay true to some sensory basics. Riesling might be the medium, but the message is origin. Geography and geology are where the notion of terroir begins. To understand a vineyard is to listen to what place tells us through location, aspect, and soil. Zöbinger Heiligenstein in Kamptal, Austria has plenty to say. The brave little vineyard: Heiligenstein’s storied…...
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?
I reach down to the baggage carousel and slip the strap over my shoulder, the weight of a month’s traveling slowly spreading through my frame, equalizing itself. I pause. Something feels wrong. There is a dampness between my shoulder blades and a smell that doesn’t belong: windfall cherries, woodsmoke. I look down to see a small, red pool forming behind my heels. A man in a yellow jacket reaches for a walkie-talkie. The source is a now-leaking bottle of Fritz Wieninger’s Pinot Noir Select 2006, naively swaddled in pair-upon-pair of walking socks. It’s a memento of one of those evenings…...
This article is an excerpted chapter from We Don’t Want Any Crap in Our Wine (2019). After the book went to print, the Rennersistas informed the author that Susanne Renner left the winery, which will now be run by siblings Stefanie and Georg. In 2015, Susanne and Stefanie Renner took over the family wine business in Gols, Austria and became their parents’ bosses. In short order, the sisters converted to biodynamics and created their own line of wines, Rennersistas, in addition to the family’s traditional red Renner cuvées. Ever since, Susanne and Stefanie have reveled in the freedom of making…...
The Wachau stands tall as one of Austria’s most storied wine regions. Terraced vineyards of Grüner Veltliner, Riesling, and other varieties line the bend of the mighty Danube. But grapes aren’t the only iconic fruit here. As a nerdy baker and wine nerd, I am intrigued by why particular grape or fruit varieties thrive in specific areas and what makes that terroir so special. I swear by Montmorency tart cherries from Northern Michigan just as I revere Grüner Veltliner from the Wachau. When I discovered that the Wachau is also known as a source of my second-favorite fruit to bake…...
