Wine Tasting in Austria in Winter

WINE TALK
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So, my wife and I are thinking of taking a trip for our fifteenth anniversary to Austria after Thanksgiving. The internet has given me mixed messages over whether winery tasting rooms are widely open in winter. Can anyone shed light from personal experience? Thinking Wachau but likely elsewhere too. TIA.

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start in Vienna – great wines being made now within the city limits

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I know they make Gemischter Satz and that it isn’t the chugging wine it once was, but I would really like to taste more refined stuff as well.

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If you are looking to visit wineries that are part of Vinea Wachau, you can use the association’s website, but it’s not super intuitive:

  1. Go to https://www.vinea-wachau.at/en/mywachau/companies/
  2. Click on the winery you are interested in in the left column. Then click on the winery’s name again on the map that shows on the right hand side of the screen…
  3. Expand the “Ab Hof” section and a calendar should pop up with hours, if they offer any. (Note: the hours are listed in your local time zone, not Austria’s!)

I just looked at Knoll, for example, and they have hours by appointment, most days M-F. Here is the direct link to Knoll (though you’ll still need to expand the “Ab Hof” section"

https://www.vinea-wachau.at/en/mywachau/companies/company-details/myw_company/weingut-knoll

Unfortunately, the calendar only goes out to June, but this should be a good place to see which estates generally offer hours, even in the winter.

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I’m my experience, the key date to be aware of is Feast of St Martin’s (Nov 11) which was the unofficial end of the tourist season throughout Wachau/Kamptal. Many places will close around this date. I posted a bit on my experience during a Nov 2018 visit (see this old thread). I don’t mean to suggest you shouldn’t go after Thanksgiving - I probably would. Just keep in mind the options will be more limited.

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there are no Austrian wines more refined than Fritz Wieninger’s Gemischter Sätz from the Nussberg –
Ulm or Rosengartl – or for that matter than his Chardonnay Grand Select (Californian in style though it occasionally might be) –

currently the most fascinating Austrian wines in general are coming out of Burgenland,
vinified from an indigenous grape, the Blaufränkisch –
its expression triangulates to an area where aspects of Pinot Noir, Nebbiolo and Syrah come together

the Wachau is certainly lovely, and there are some very fine wines there, but it should be just one stop along the way
and not The destination

(for five years in the teens i spent three weeks per year in Vienna,
tasting and critiquing Austrian wines for the Österreichische Gastronomie Zeitung
and the Medianet Verlag – which i hope is as close as i shall ever come to being a Wine Journalist!)

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If planning a trip to Austria after Thanksgiving might as well wait for Christkindlmarkt season and then you can enjoy nice hot cups of Glühwein all around.