WACHAU NOW A DAC REGION

AUSTRIA'S FAMILY OF PROTECTED AND DESIGNATED ORIGINS HAS GROWN

A change long in development has now become official: the Wachau is Austria’s newest (and fifteenth) DAC winegrowing region. On the three levels Gebietswein (regional wine), Ortswein (“villages” wine) and Riedenwein (single-vineyard wine), regionally typical wines will now bear the protected designation of origin “Wachau DAC”. The Vinea Wachau’s categories Steinfeder, Federspiel and Smaragd will remain in use.

Typically Wachau: the Danube, stone terracces and now also Wachau DAC.
© AWMB/Robert Herbst

After thorough deliberation and consensus-building within the region, the Wachau submitted the draft of a DAC regulation to the Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism, which has now been signed into law by federal minister Elisabeth Köstinger. The protected designation of origin “Wachau DAC” is now the fifteenth of its kind in Austria.

“With the Wachau, we can now welcome another important member to Austria’s DAC family”, says Chris Yorke, Managing Director of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board (AWMB). “In doing this, Austria’s wine industry has taken a further step on the path of origin-based marketing. This has proven itself effective for seventeen years now, and has also become recognised internationally”.

A KEEN FOKUS ON ORIGINS

Wachau DAC wines are classified on three levels: Gebietswein, Ortswein and Riedenwein. One particular feature: the winegrowers have committed themselves to hand harvesting on all three levels.

In the Gebietswein category, the traditional array of grape varieties is preserved, where seventeen white and red varieties ranging from Grüner Veltliner and Riesling to Muskateller and Sauvignon Blanc to Pinot Noir and Sankt Laurent are permitted. Gemischter Satz and cuvées are also allowed. These wines will bear the name of the region coupled with “DAC” on the label. The grapes can come from anywhere in the entire winegrowing region Wachau.

Ortswein is becoming increasingly important in Austria’s landscape of origins, and the Wachau also provides for twenty-two designated municipalities, protected in its DAC regulation. The number of approved grape varieties is concentrated here to nine: Grüner Veltliner, Riesling, Weissburgunder, Grauburgunder, Chardonnay, Neuburger, Muskateller, Sauvignon Blanc and Traminer. These must be vinified as monovarietal wines.

The top level on the pyramid of origins is Riedenwein. The most famous Wachau grape varieties Grüner Veltliner and Riesling are permitted here, harvested from 157 precisely defined vineyard sites (Rieden). Wachau DAC wines bearing the indication of a Ried on the label must not be enriched or chaptalised in any way and – like Ortswein – must exhibit hardly any noticeable cask tone, or none at all.

Thanks to this seamless concept of origins, consumers will benefit from the greater transparency and specificity of provenance. Anton Bodenstein, chairman of the Wachau Regional Wine Committee comments: “This brings origins to the forefront. Wachau DAC provides geographical protection of origin down to the most detailed entity: the individual vineyard.”