Summary of the evolving Austrian wine law
| EU designation | Austrian hierarchy | |
| Wine Wein (used to be called table wine) Österreich |
From anywhere in Austria. Vintage and grape varieties can be labelled. |
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| Country wine – PGI Landwein (equivalent to Vins de Pays in France etc.) Geschützte Geografische Angabe |
Three zones: Bergland (west) Weinland (north east) Steirerland (south east) |
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| Quality wine – PDO Qualitätswein (equivalent to AoC in France etc.) Geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung |
– 35 different grape varieties are permitted. – About two-thirds of Austria’s total production qualifies as ‘quality wine’. – All quality wine has the red and white striped banderol on the top of the bottleneck, if bottled in Austria. – Currently three groups. |
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| Group 1 Four generic regions |
1. Niederösterreich (32,100ha) 2. Burgenland (16,000ha) 3. Steiermark (3,650ha) 4. Wien (Vienna) (700ha) |
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| Group 2 Sixteen specific regions within each of the four generic regions |
DACs Niederösterreich 1. Weinviertal (2002); 2. Traisental (2006); 3. Kremstal (2007); 4. Kamptal (2008);Burgenland 5. Mittelburgenland (2005); 6. Leithaberg (2009); 7. Eisenberg (2009)Steiermark (none – yet)Wien (none – yet) |
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| Non-DACs Niederösterreich 8. Wachau 9. Wagram 10. Thermenregion 11. CarnuntumBurgenland 12. NeusiedlerseeSteiermark 13. Weststeiermark 14. Südsteiermark 15. SüdoststeiermarkWein 16. Wein |
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| Group 3 Prädikat wines Later harvest wines, of increasing grape sugar ripeness. No chaptalisation. No cryoextraction. No sweetening agents. |
Spätlese Auslese Beerenauslese Ausbruch Trockenbeerenauslese Eiswein Strohwein/schilfwein |
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Sources: Austrian Wine Marketing Board data and pers. comms., 2010.
