Lower Austria/Niederösterreich

This wine-growing region in Austria is one of eight such regions in the federal state of Lower Austria. It has a total vineyard area of 1.390 hectares, split up among 867 grape growers. The Danube river flows through the region, with most of the vineyards, many of them terraced, located on the south-facing slopes on the north bank. The narrow valley along the Danube is only 33 kilometres long, while the wine-growing region is 15 kilometres long. The gateway to the west is formed by the impressive Benedictine abbey Stift Melk (since 1089), while to the east the town of Krems, itself 1000 years old, forms the boundary. Historical reports claim that in the 5th century the monk Severinus (410 – 482 AD) lived close to Favianis (now Mautern) in the midst of vineyards, thus indicating viticulture was practsed here at the time.The English king Richard Lionheart (1157–1199) was captured near Vienna on his return from the third crusade, and held prisoner at the Burg Dürnstein castle. In 1002, king Henry II. (973–1024) gave the snall settlement of Liupna, today known as Loiben, to the Tegernsee abbey. Karl Lueger (1844–1910), the mayor of Vienna, around the turn of the 20th century served a wine from Loiben to emperor Franz-Joseph I. (1830–1916) at a ball, to which the emperor is reported to have responded: „I would not have thought that such a good wine is made in my empire.“. This led Lueger to propose the designation of „Loibner Kaiserwein“ (emperor’s wine from Loiben), which is still in use today. The Benedictine abbey at Melk owned vineyards not only in the Wachau region, but also in the well-known wine-producing towns of Gumpoldskirchen, Pfaffstätten and Baden#Baden (Austria).The abbey still owns around 100 hectares of vineyards in Rohrendorf close to Krems, this was given to the abbey by Leuthold von Kuenring in 1113. Wine from the abbey cellars was used to put out a fire in 1683, the fire had already taken hold of the church tower and threatened to destroy the bells. In 1703, the cellar held stores of 24.000 buckets of wine, that equals around 1,3 million litres! Eventually, the income from the wine tithe was sufficient for the abbey to be rebuilt and expanded in the 18th century, resulting in the current impressive Baroque complex. However, high taxation and climate change led to a demise of the wine culture in this region. Top-quality wines were only produced again in the mid-19th century, when varieties such as Veltliner and Riesling were introduced.

The terrain is mainly characterised by shallow soils with a high mineral content, ensuring warm growing conditions. The soils are mainly loess, sand and gravel. In some terraced sites, the layer of topsoil is no more than 50 centimetres deep, with sheer granite below this. The climate is a mixture of Atlantic and Pannonian conditions, influenced by the Danube, which provides humidity and also reflects heat back onto the vineyards. An important facto influencing the climate is the great temperature difference between day and night. The best-known wine-producing communes, with their most famous vineyard sites are: Dürnstein with Frauenweingärten, Hollerin, Kellerberg and Schütt; Loiben with Kreutles, Loibenberg, Mühlpoint, Schütt and Steinertal; Spitz with Axpoint, Auleithen (original site of the Neuburger variety), Tausendeimerberg, Honivogl, Singerriedel and Steinborz; Mautern with Burggarten, Point, Silberbichl, Weingebirge, Vom Stein, Zaum and Zistl; Weissenkirchen with Achleiten, Buschenberg, Frauengärten, Herstell, Hochrain, Kirchweg, Klaus#Klaus (Wachau), Ritzling and Steinriegl; Rothenhof with Pfaffenberg (the largest part is located in the Kremstal wine-growing region) as well as the commune of Rossatz on the right bank of the Danube, with a vineyard area of 200 hectares.

In 2000, UNESCO declared the Wachau region to be a world cultural heritage landscape. Well-known producers include: Alzinger, Bäuerl Wolfgang, Dinstlgut, Domäne Wachau, Donabaum In der Spitz, Donabaum Sighardt, Gritsch Josef, Gritsch Mauritiushof, Hirtzberger, Högl, Höllmüller, Holzapfel, Hutter, Jamek-Altmann, Kartäuserhof, Knoll Emmerich, Lagler, Lesehof Stagård, Nikolaihof, Pichler Franz Xaver, Pichler Rudi, Prager, Schmelz Johann, Sigl Heinz and Tegernseerhof. Quality wines are produced under the brand name Vinea Wachau Nobilis Districtus. White varieties account for around 90% of total production. The Wachau region is among the best white wine producing regions in Austria, specifically for Riesling and Veltliner. Grape varieties planted (as per 2000):
Variety Synonyms, variants Colour Hectares % share
Veltliner Grüner Veltliner, Weißgipfler White 710 51,1
Riesling Rheinriesling, Weißer Riesling White 185 13,3
Müller-Thurgau Rivaner, Riesling x Sylvaner White 127 9,1
Zweigelt Blauer Zweigelt, Rotburger Red 97 7,0
Neuburger - White 81 5,8
Chardonnay
Pinot Blanc Feinburgunder
Weißburgunder, Klevner White 65 4,7
Gemischter Satz Vineyard blend White 29 2,1
Frühroter Veltliner Frühroter, Malvasier White 20 1,4
Blauer Portugieser Portugieser Red 15 1,1
St. Laurent - Red 15 1,1
Blauburger - Red 12 0,9
Gemischter Satz Vineyard blend Red 11 0,8
Muskateller Gelber Muskateller, Roter Muskateller White 6 0,4
Pinot Noir Blauburgunder, Blauer Spätburgunder Red 6 0,4
Muskat-Ottonel Feinschmeckerter White 3,5 0,3
Sauvignon Blanc Muskat-Sylvaner White 2,2 0,2
Pinot Gris Grauburgunder, Ruländer White 2 0,2
Traminer Roter Traminer, Gewürztraminer White 2 0,2
Blaufränkisch Limberger Red 1,5 0,1
Roter Veltliner - White 1,5 0,1
Cabernet Sauvignon - Red 1 0,1
Silvaner Sylvaner, Grüner Sylvaner White 0,8 -
Merlot - Red 0,5 -
Jubiläumsrebe - White 0,3 -
Bouvier - White 0,3 -
Goldburger - White 0,1 -
Zierfandler Spätrot, Gumpoldskirchner White 0,1 -
Rotgipfler Rotreifler White 0,1 -
Welschriesling - White 0,1 -
White varieties 1.233 88,7
Red varieties 157 11,3
TOTAL 1.390 100