I have visited Gottardi in Innsbruck once. They had a fairly nice selection including producers such as Prager, Heinrich and Johanneshof Reinisch. However I think I enjoyed even more the Wein & Co - located most romantically in a shopping mall - which had a lot of nice stuff from the likes of Nigl, Alzinger, Bründlmayer, Preisinger, Huet etc.
Wein&Co is kind of a wine supermarket with a dozen+ locations in the larger cities … good and not too expensive.
However I would also recommend to have a look at
The have an excellent selection of Austrian wines, and with mail order they can send it to every spot in Austria (and I guess Europe) …
even at a special date when you are on holidays in Innsbruck …
Certainly you guys have it better than the French with their chain of Nicolas shops!
I am completely, totally, utterly 100% biased, and in the business of importing and selling Austrian wines, but if I may make a few suggestions of some red wine producers to consider (some of which have already been named, and not all are imported by my company):
Moric (Roland Velich) - we have some videos of him talking about his wines on our website if you’re interested.
Schuster (the label is Rosi Schuster, the winemaker is now Hannes, the son of Rosi)
Jagini - which is a project between Roland Velich and Hannes Schuster
Umathum
Wenzel
Preisinger
Lichtenberger-Gonzalez
Kolfok - winemaker is Stefan Wellanschitz, and he’s getting a lot of press and prizes these days as an exciting newcomer.
Wachter-Wiesler
Feiler-Artinger
Zantho, which is overseen by Josef Umathum and Martin Peck, produce some great value reds.
Schiefer
There are many other talented producers, but I am naming here those that I am most familiar with as far as knowing many vintages back to back.
Another good shop in Austria is Wagners (www.wagners-weinshop.com)
Cheers all!
Love Austria, most beautiful country in the world. Amazing place.
The reds… Easy pass for me.
Whites another story. Sucker for a good GV. The beer scene was good too.
Resurrecting this topic…Any love for Blaufränkisch?
I had two very enjoyable examples recently: Moric Reserve 2012 (TN: 2012 Moric Blaufränkisch Reserve (Austria, Burgenland) - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers) and Heinrich Leithaberg 2013.
I went through a spell of Austrian reds a few years ago (started with Pinot Noir then on to Zweigelt, Blaufränkisch and St-Laurent). Although I found some PN of interests and some good value with Zweigelt, it’s Blaufränkisch that I found most interesting in that neck of the woods. Unfortunately, we don’t find them easily over here (especially the top end cuvées) which points to this region and grape “getting no love”. Is it more popular in the States?
I like Blaufränkisch, but I haven’t had it outside of Austria because, at least here in the States, it tends to be priced similarly to other wines I like better. Maybe the production isn’t huge relative to the demand for the wine…just a guess.
I had an Austrian red in summer blind - called “Batonnage” , a black bottle with a red scorpion on it.
I mistook it for a young top vintage of Leoville Las Cases! Easily in the upper 90ies points for me, though in a modern style (like LLC).
Vintage 2015.
Made by five winemakers, among them Kracher and Scheibelhofer, it´s a cuvee of (mostly) Blaufränkisch, with Cabernet Sauvignon and a bit Merlot.
It´s quite pricey (well over 120 €) and hard to find, but if you like Blaufränkisch and also buy top Bordeaux for 200+ this might be worth a try.
As to the question of how popular Blaufränkisch is in the United States compared to Canada. I can’t compare, since I don’t know Canada that well, but you do see Blaufränkisch on a lot of better wine lists. Even the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board lists 12 Blaufränkisch as being in stock, though nothing beyond the basic Wacter Wiesler that is of much interest, in my opinion. They did used to carry Moric. The best Blaufränkisch I have had, and a producer not yet mentioned is Ernst Triebaumer’s Mariental. I don’t believe his wines are imported into the U.S.
Those are some beautiful wines there!
I went through a spell of Austrian reds a few years ago (started with Pinot Noir then on to Zweigelt, Blaufränkisch and St-Laurent). Although I found some PN of interests and some good value with Zweigelt, it’s Blaufränkisch that I found most interesting in that neck of the woods. Unfortunately, we don’t find them easily over here (especially the top end cuvées) which points to this region and grape “getting no love”. Is it more popular in the States?
I fully agree that while there are some well-made Pinot Noir in Austria and some Zweigelts can be of good value, they are of no real interest compared to well-made Blaufränkisch! And, to, some extent, St. Laurent. The problem with the latter is that it is often made into a burly, heavily oaked blockbuster, which really doesn’t fit the variety that well. But deftly made examples - especially with some age - can be some of the greatest Austrian reds and truly world-class wines. The aging also helps quite a bit if the wine is on the oaky side in its youth.
Never heard of it before, thanks Robert! From what I could read on this, they pick some of the Blaufränkisch when it is “overripe”. It seems to make for an interesting cuvée.
They seem to have it in BC but not QC. There are some laudatory reviews on it too. I’ll put that on my to-do. I suppose that is another one to let sleep 6 to 8 years before testing the waters?
Happy to see you’re also an enthusiast Otto. I’ll have to go back to St-Laurent. It’s the one I know less about. I wasn’t able to find top tier bottlings and the generic ones I had were pretty expensive for what they were (20% more expensive than the equivalent Blaufrankisch). So they were neither QPRs nor “good” bottles. I would have to find a decent bottle and give it a little time… yet another item on my to-do list!
Yes, I would let the Triebaumer Mariental sit ca. 5-6 yrs. minimum.
I’ve enjoyed every bottle I’ve had from Rosi Schuster — never anything mind-blowing, but always very good, if not low-level excellent, and always interesting. Helps a lot that they run $20 - $25, too. 
Mariental Ernst Triebaumer (ET) is an Austrian classic for over 30 years, but needing bottle age.
Moric makes some masterful wines, but they have a high tariff. It was one of the better red tastings I did in Austria. Another, at a more affordable price point, is Heidi Schrock. She is a really sweet person and fun to taste with.
I don’t have a lot of experience here, but I absolutely adore Uwe Schiefer’s Blaufränkisch Purbach. If you’re in DC, Weygandt has a good selection of fun Austrian stuff, including Schiefer.
here the text from an introduction i wrote,
in the tasting book from an ee-vent some coupla years back at The Modern in NYC
showcasing Austrian reds and featuring a steel-cage tagteam death-match
between me & Schildknecht versus Willi Klinger (Austrian Wine Marketing Board) and Christian Zechmeister (Wein Burgunland)
Versatile, Ageable and Collectible…
One of wine’s greatest 20th-century minds (and palates) wrote:
I know a country where the beneficial effect of wine is well understood. It is drunk as a tonic, a stimulant, or simply because one is happy.
No, it’s not France; it is Austria…
This observation from Émile Peynaud’s coffee-table tome Le Gout du Vin—written by a Frenchman in 1980, well before “modern” Austrian wine came onto the stage; before there was a Vinea Wachau or a “Red Wine Wonder…”
Austria is a wine-culture. Not for naught does the name of her capital city Wien come close to that of the native beverage Wein. Rather, Austria has several wine-cultures folded in upon one another, its individual components as distinctive as Steiermark and Burgenland, Schilcher and Chardonnay (plus the 1500 acres of vines growing within Vienna’s city limits).
With this: every Austrian wine is a food wine. The flavors of Austrian Red grew up in Burgenland (until 93 years ago German West Hungary), alongside the Mangalitza pig, spicy paprika and Blaukraut. Austria’s contemporary wine culture and her thriving culinary scene have crosspollinated one another as if the very best and busiest of bees were at work in the garden. One significant aspect of the nation’s great wealth lies in her three native red grape varieties: Blaufränkisch, Sankt Laurent and the excellent crossing of those two, Zweigelt. All three are distinctive, and each one is uniquely Austrian.
These wines are to the table born. In the context of complex and complicated flavors, matters of umami or savory, Blaufränkisch will go fearlessly where other red wines fear to tread. The utterly sublime way in which Blaufränkisch insinuates itself among intricate food-flavors offers a challenge to the very finest wines of France, Italy and Spain. Of course there’s also the traditional “red wine with red meat and game,” where the Blaufränkisch also proves sauce for the wild goose as well as for the Gosht Biryani. Sankt Laurent will behave in many ways like its illustrious parent Pinot Noir, except that the variety is also capable of soaking up a heroic amount of hotpeppery spice—to an extreme where even Zinfandel or Teroldego Rotaliano would beg for mercy—and offers a magnificent outside perspective to the subtle flavors of the sushi bar.
Zweigelt has a wonderful way around the Tandoori spice-box, and is extremely good with high-class Mexican preparations—Molé or Adobo, for example. And then there’s the grill and the barbecue; this variety plays very well alongside heat and zesty seasonings.
Austrian red wines are ready to take their place alongside those of Burgundy, Piedmont & Bordeaux as items to tuck away in the treasured depths of the cellar, awaiting the time when elements of thirst, cuisine and conviviality align themselves to produce that certain moment.
Currently: after having gone through an inevitable period of stylistic internationalism as young winegrowers returned with new techniques from their travels in America and Australia, New Zealand and France, Austria’s estates are now producing red wines that can only be made in Austria, and only from Austria’s native vines. This is a remarkable achievement in a relatively short period of time; what discriminating collector would not wish to have these sophisticated and distinctive bottlings in his/her cellar?
Tasting several dozen 2010 Zweigelts in Vienna two years ago, I realized that I would’ve happily drunk most of them. (In this difficult vintage many growers had expended extra effort getting the most out of their Blaufränkers and cuvées, letting the Zweigelt take care of itself—with delicious results.) Would I cellar them? Good question. I have typically thought Zweigelt more suited to the pantry, although certainly good for a few years. Of course there have always been exceptions like Schwarz Rot or Josef Umathum’s Ried Hallebühl, both from Burgenland’s Neusiedlersee district, which certainly repay patience. Upon which, the excellent concentration and structure shown by the variety in vintages 2011 and 2012 have reopened the general question about the ageability of Zweigelt.
Sankt Laurent lives by a learning curve similar to Pinot Noir. A 2003er from Hannes Schuster drunk two years ago in a swish downtown Vienna restaurant not only handled the great ripeness of that hot vintage very well, but was also developing its secondaries with charm and style. No longer dwindling in acreage, more growers—especially in Northern Burgenland and the Thermenregion—have become convinced that this variety is indeed worth the trouble (considerable) involved in its cultivation and vinification.
Of course the star of the show as far as ageability goes is Blaufränkisch and the cuvées based on it. Wines from the 1999 vintage are becoming harder to find, but one taste of a 99er Kollwentz Steinzeiler or Paul Achs Ungerberg will convince even the most recalcitrant skeptic. Weingut Prieler’s Goldberg 2002 is just heavenly these days. 2002 Moric Alte Reben Lutzmannburg (a significantly less aggressive style) has developed equally well, with no sign of tiring. Perhaps in ageing these wines one might think of them in the way we do Loire Valley reds—great fun to drink while they are still young, but when we come across an old Chinon “Les Picasses” from Olga Raffault, oh what a treat that is!
From the Spitzerberg in Carnuntum down the length of Burgenland southward, from Gols to Leithaberg, Mittelburgenland and Eisenberg, excellent acidity and refined tannins recur as common themes in the current batch of Blaufränkisch. These factors are sure to promote ageability and prolonged development; the current trend away from new oak is a positive influence. The deep and compelling flavors of this noble grape become more readily apparent, now that the fruit is no longer so frequently lost in the lumber. Growers who produce monovarietal Blaufränkisch often have their eye on the Côte d’Or and Piemonte—and while the variety’s intrinsic characteristics differ from those of Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo, Blaufränkisch shows a similar propensity for transmitting the message of the soils in which it was grown to the taster as do its venerable cousins from France and Italy. As those wines grow more (and more) expensive for the collector, Austrian Blaufränkisch will seem a very wise choice.
James Oliver Wright
Thank you James! Great read!
.
Wenzel’s sweet wines are his best wines.
in addition to Moric and Schuster,
one fellow i like very very much for BF is Georg Prieler
i went to the SALON Österreich Wein in Linz last year;
his Blauf Marienthal was best wine in show – and his BF Goldberg has been magnif for years beyond recollection
Prieler wines that his sister Sylvie made in the early oughts were lost in the lumber as youngsters
now finding their way quite nicely, but Georg’s wines are appealing even right out of the barrrel
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