The best wines of the year I MYHOME BLOG

The best wines of the year

As every year, the best wines are crowned in Austria. The SALON is considered the national championship of domestic wine. His judgement enjoys the highest confidence among traders, consumers and winegrowers. For over three decades, the event has tasted and determined the 270 best in a multi-stage process.

Procedure

Initially, several thousand wines are entered through state awards (states award prizes to the best wines from 7,000 establishments). The best of these then go into the so-called blind tasting. An additional 60 are nominated by wine trade magazines. Quality sparkling wines can be submitted directly by producers for the final tasting. This means that 500 wines will be blind-tasted, of which the best 270 will be awarded prizes at the end. From classically fruity to full-bodied to noble sweet wines and sparkling wines, the whole variety of Austrian wines can be found.

This year, the winners were presented at the event in mid-August at the Palais Coburg in Vienna, at a press conference with a tasting of the winners. All wines were subjected to the judgement of a panel of experts. The members of the jury must have passed the official taster examination or be able to provide evidence of similar training. Wine consultants are also part of the tasting panel. In advance, there is also a separate tasting training in preparation.

The final result is wines and sparkling wines in 19 categories, whose high quality places them at the top of the Austrian wine industry. In addition, a winner will be crowned in each of 17 categories.

The 17 winners

Category	Vintage	Origin	Winery
Welschriesling	2020	Lower Austria	Wine:hirsch – Hirsch Reinhard
Grüner Veltliner, classic	2020	Weinviertel DAC	Ruttenstock
Grüner Veltliner, strong	2019	Wachau	Joseph Fischer
Riesling	2020	Traisental DAC	Tom Dockner
Burgundy varieties, classic	2020	Styria	Gwaltl
Burgundy varieties, strong	2018	Vulkanland Styria DAC	Frauwallner Straden
Old Austria/autochthonous grape varieties	2019	Wagram	Fritz Joseph
sauvignon blanc	2020	Lower Austria	Urban
Tasted	2020	Lower Austria	Gilg
Red wine fresh and fruity	2019	Lower Austria	Steurer Maier
Zweigelt	2019	Burgenland	Markus Iro
St. Laurent & Pinot Noir	2019	Burgenland	Markus Iro
Blaufränkisch	2018	Burgenland	Franz Schindler
Cuvées & other varieties	2019	Burgenland	Steurer
Fruity sweet wines	2020	Lake Neusiedl DAC	Königshofer
Noble sweet wines	2019	Burgenland	Tschida
Sparkling wine PDO	2016	Lower Austria	Loimer

A bit of statistics

The origins of the 270 wines are distributed as follows: 137 wines from Lower Austria, 77 from Burgenland, 37 from Styria, 13 from Vienna and 6 from the Bergland. Some wines come from organic certified farms, as well as from farms with the “Nachhaltig-Austria” sign. Around one third of the wines were thus produced in a particularly environmentally conscious manner.

The standard work for top wines, the Fallstaff Weinguide Austria 2021/2022, has also reissued its recommendation of the current top wines from all over Austria. 3,600 wines were professionally tasted and evaluated. Some wines are already available from 20€. Some are only available for purchase from 100€.

The best 10

Category	Vintage	Origin	Winery
yellow muscatel	2017	Volcano Country Styria	Frauwallner
Grüner Veltliner	2019	Kamptal	Deer
Riesling	2020	Wachau	F. X. Pichler
sauvignon blanc	2015	South Styria	Gross
Blaufränkisch	2017	Eisenberg	Slate.pure
Grüner Veltliner	2020	Wachau	Prague
Chardonnay	2019	Burgenland	Kollwentz
Heartbleed	2015	Burgenland	Heribert Bayer Winery
Riesling	2019	Wachau	Knoll
sauvignon blanc	2018	South Styria	Tement