!!!Weinbau

Wine Growing: Wine was already grown on Austrian territory by the 
Celts and the Illyrians, even though in a much less sophisticated form 
than today. The oldest evidence comes from Zagersdorf (Burgenland) and 
is thought to date from 750 B.C. Organised wine growing reached 
its first peak under the Romans; the "Soldier Emperor" 
Probus lifted the ban on wine growing in areas north of the Alps in 
280 A.D., which had been imposed by Emperor Domitian. Vineyards 
emerged along the River Danube, in the surrounding areas of the 
settlements of Carnuntum, Vindobona, Aquae (Baden), Augustiana 
(Traismauer) and Favianis (Mautern) as well as around Lake Neusiedl, 
in Eisenberg (southern Burgenland) and in Styria. Wine growing in 
Austria was first mentioned in the  Vita Severini. In the Middle Ages 
knowledge of viticulture, cellaring and the most favourable sites for 
vines lay in the hands of monasteries and other church institutions. 
At the same time more and more representatives of the nobility as well 
as some of the bourgeoisie became owners of vineyards. Due to a lack 
of labour, the church and nobility had to have parts of their 
vineyards cultivated by peasants in a system of share rent (usually 
one half or one third). Because of the considerable increase in the 
volume of production in the 14%%sup th/%  century bans were imposed on 
imports and sale of non-domestic wine. Vienna became the centre of 
wine growing and trade in the Danube region. Wine growing was most 
extensive in Austria in the 16%%sup th/%  century; there were also 
vineyards in Upper Austria, Carinthia, Tirol, Salzburg and Vorarlberg. 
Austrian wine was exported to Bohemia, Moravia, Poland, Latvia and 
Lithuania, Bavaria, Prussia and Silesia. After the Thirty Years´ 
War wine growing was run down and it was not until the Baroque period 
that it saw a new upswing. At the beginning of the 19%%sup th/%  
century care of the vine was given more attention, and it was only 
serious cold damage (climatic changes) and the accidental importation 
of fungal diseases from America, such as oidium (powdery mildew) and 
peronospora (downy mildew), that led to another reduction of wine 
growing areas. The Austrian wine growing industry was even more 
severely affected by the spread of  Phylloxera which began in 1872. 
Old cultures were destroyed within a few years and it took decades to 
fully introduce grafted and more resistant grape varieties. At the 
same time wine growing schools, associations and self-help 
organisations (wine growers´ cooperatives) were founded. In the 
20%%sup th/%  century wine growing in Austria has seen stronger 
intervention by the legislative authorities in the fields of wine 
production and classification. Over the last decades cultivation 
techniques have been improved (change from stake training to the high 
training system) and structures re-organised (decreasing number of 
companies, increasing size of companies). Following the wine scandal 
(1985), the Austrian wine marketing service company 
(Weinmarketingservice-GmbH) was founded in 1987 by the state and the 
wine growing provinces.

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Wine was grown in Austria on a total area of 50,875 hectares in 
1999, with areas in Lower Austria accounting for 30,594 hectares, 
in Burgenland for 15,949 hectares, in Styria for 
3,584 hectares and in Vienna for 731 hectares (in other 
provinces for 17 hectares). The average harvest volume amounts to 
2.6 million hectolitres (1998: 2.7 million hectolitres; 
1997: 1.8 million hectolitres). In 1998 21.15 million 
hectolitres of wine were exported, compared to 57.17 million 
hectolitres of imports. 16 Austrian wine growing areas were officially 
established on the basis of the Wine Act Amendment 1993. Lower 
Austria: Wachau Valley, Kremstal valley, Kamptal valley, Donauland, 
Traisental valley, Carnuntum, Weinviertel Region, Thermenregion; 
Burgenland: Lake Neusiedl (Neusiedler See), Neusiedler-See-Huegelland, 
Mittel-Burgenland (central Burgenland), Sued-Burgenland (southern 
Burgenland); Styria: Sued-Steiermark (southern Styria), 
Suedost-Steiermark (south-east Styria), West-Steiermark (western 
Styria); Wien (Vienna). The 16 wine growing areas are organised into 
various wine growing regions: Weinland Oesterreich (comprising Lower 
Austria and Burgenland), Styria, Vienna and Bergland Oesterreich, 
which covers the small-scale wine growing activity of the other 5 
Austrian provinces There are approx. 30 authorised quality grape 
varieties in Austria, the most important of which are Gruene Veltliner 
(36.7 %, mostly in Lower Austria, Burgenland and Vienna), 
followed by Welschriesling (9 %, in Burgenland, Styria and in the 
eastern Weinviertel), Mueller-Thurgau (also known as Rivaner, 
7.8 %), white Burgundy, Riesling, Neuburger, Muskat-Ottonel, 
Chardonnay and Traminer, as well as Zierfandler (or Spaetrot) and 
Rotgipfler (also blended as Spaetrot-Rotgipfler). Around 24.5 % 
of the vineyards are planted with red grapes: Blauer Zweigelt 
(7.9 %, in all wine growing areas), Blaufraenkisch (5.4 %, 
esp. in central Burgenland), Blauer Portugieser (5.2 %), 
Blauburgunder, St. Laurent and Blauer Wildbacher (Schilcher, 
speciality of western Styria).

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The most important wine growing villages and towns are: in Lower 
Austria: Baden, Duernstein, Falkenstein, Goettlesbrunn, 
Grossriedenthal, Gumpoldskirchen, Haugsdorf, Hoeflein, Kirchberg am 
Wagram, Klosterneuburg, Krems an der Donau, Langenlois, Loiben, 
Mailberg, Mannersdorf an der March, Matzen, Poysdorf, Prellenkirchen, 
Retz, Rohrendorf, Roeschitz, Schoenberg am Kamp, Sooss, Spitz, Strass 
im Strassertal, Tattendorf, Traiskirchen, Traismauer, Weissenkirchen 
and Wolkersdorf; in Burgenland: Deutschkreutz, Deutsch-Schuetzen, 
Donnerskirchen, Eisenstadt, Gols, Grosshoeflein, Horitschon, Illmitz, 
Moerbisch, Neckenmarkt, Oggau, Podersdorf and Rust; in Styria: 
Deutschlandsberg, Ehrenhausen, Eibiswald, Gamlitz, Kapfenstein, 
Kitzeck, Kloech, Leibnitz, Leutschach, Sankt Stefan ob Stainz and 
Wies; in Vienna: Grinzing, Heiligenstadt, Mauer, Neustift, Nussdorf, 
Oberlaa, Sievering, Stammersdorf and Strebersdorf.

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Wine growing schools: Federal advanced-level school and federal office 
of wine and fruit growing with Institute of Apiarism in Klosterneuburg 
(founded in 1860, oldest wine growing school in the world), 
agricultural vocational schools in Gumpoldskirchen, Hollabrunn, Krems 
an der Donau, Mistelbach (all situated in Lower Austria), Eisenstadt 
(Burgenland) and Silberberg (Styria).

!Literature
R. Sedlaczek (ed.) and W. Kutscher, Unser Wein, 1994; 1000 
Weine, beschrieben und bewertet von W. Kutscher, 1995; R. Steurer and 
V. Siegl, Oesterreichischer Weinfuehrer, 1996.


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