Vienna Wine Fair takeaways
Mentioning my father, I can’t fail to share some wine insights for @vievinum ( the Viennese wine fair). This is not an ad - I just loved my time there and I feel very lucky to have Austrian blood!
1. Vienna is THE city for wine lovers. It is the largest wine producing city in the world, home to around 630 wineries which you can visit onboard the Heurigen express.
2. Gruner is still one of my favourite grapes due to its ability to combine ripeness & brightness. It can also age just as long as Riesling - potentially even more consistently! It is also one of the most food friendly wines out there, which makes sense when regarding Austria’s rich culinary heritage.
3. Austria is making some of the best white wines in the world. From well known grapes like Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, morillon (Chardonnay) to a new personal fave grape the Rotgipfler!
4. Why is Rotgipfler potentially going to be one of Austria’s famous grapes in the future? It’s a gorgeous hybrid made from Veltliner and Traminer which enables it to possess incredible richness & perfume combined with elegant dryness & structure. It can also age over 50 years! And most importantly, can thrive in high temperatures making it a natural focus point with climate change percolating in the background.
5. In case we didn’t know it already - Brexit has made life even more complicated. And we are the losers. My father and I tasted so many amazing wines which were exported elsewhere but not the UK. Obviously there is not a simple solution but it was genuinely heartbreaking not being able to champion so many wineries from my home soil.
6. Organisation and hospitality come hand in hand in Vienna. This was a HUGE international fair and yet everything flowed seamlessly. It was also my first time in two years to be in such a vibrant international hub & it FELT SO GOOD!!! The fair itself is held in the Imperial palace which reminds us of Austria’s illustrious heritage. But even though it may have been reduced geographically, Austria has retained its impressive influence and significance for wine and culture. @vievinum was just a small example of that.
Prost!