Home Tasting articles
Riesling Austria Grüner Veltliner Austria 2014

Austrian 2014 – an uphill struggle

Julia Harding
Julia Harding MW
Tuesday 13 October 2015
Image

For the background to this tasting of 117 wines at Schloss Grafenegg (pictured here by Alexander Haiden) in the Austrian town of Krems at the end of August, see Austria wrestles with vineyard classification. 

For many Austrian growers, work in the vineyard is literally an uphill struggle. 2014 in particular was 'a year of hard work' owing to 'difficult weather conditions, persistent rainfalls and fewer sunshine hours', in the words of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board. Intense selection was required, resulting in lower than average yields and wines that were quite well balanced but, in many cases, lacked the...