A Trip to Domäne Wachau
One of Austria’s Most Prestigious Wine Producers
Working Wines recently had the privilege of visiting Domäne Wachau, one of Austria’s finest and most well-known wineries. Domäne Wachau’s estate sits adjacent to the Danube River in one of the country’s best wine regions, the Wachau. It features beautiful, terraced vineyards across rolling green hills, and is led by Winemaker Heinz Frischengruber and Estate Director, Roman Horvath MW.
Frischengruber and Horvath, a dynamic and down-to-earth duo, took their time leading us through thorough wine tastings and vineyard tours. After a gorgeous boat ride together down the Danube, we enjoyed a delicious barbeque in the vineyards at sunset. (The food was so good that Roman, the head chef, might also need to add “MB – Master of Barbeque” to his credentials!).
The People & The Place
While the team’s hospitality was truly unforgettable, it was only one of the many things that makes Domäne Wachau so special. For example, we learned that despite Domäne Wachau’s extensive international distribution, the entire winemaking process is actually quite personal.
Frischengruber, himself, grew up just across the river from the estate, and local vignerons are responsible for harvesting each of the individual vineyards. (“Winemaker” means that a person makes wine from grapes; vignerons are people who grow and harvest grapes). The diversity between each vigneron’s method is the very thing that allows such distinction between Domäne Wachau’s single-vineyard (“Ried”) wines.
Even more special: since many of the vineyards cannot be harvested with machinery, the vignerons’ entire families help out each year. Quite literally– as Frischengruber explained it– the grandmas, the uncles, the cousins, and everyone else in the family helps out during harvest.
The Soils & The Vineyards
And why can’t they use machinery? Because of the steep slopes in those beautiful, terraced vineyards, of course!
The Wachau region is known for stone walls that retain its terraced vineyards, which can usually only be accessed through a good ol’ fashioned hike. The stone walls are a dead giveaway for the region’s minerality (the vines grow in rocky soils composed mostly of gneiss), but also do the important job of retaining heat. Wide, diurnal temperature swings are part of what make the region so perfect for producing wine, but the stored heat in those rocky soils and stone walls comes in handy, especially in particularly cold seasons. (Critters living among the vineyards love these warm stone walls, as well!).
The Wines of Domäne Wachau
Besides their distinct minerality, Domäne Wachau’s wines are marked with flavors of stone fruit, tropical fruit, white pepper, and honey. We were also impressed to find that overall, their wines were incredibly well-structured.
We’ve collected select tasting notes from our tastings at the winery, below. (These notes are not comprehensive, but represent the qualities that were most impressive!)
Grüner Veltliner Federspiel Terrassen 2023
- Golden apple finish; round sapidity that hangs in the back of the mouth
Grüner Veltliner Federspiel Ried Liebenberg 2023
- Peach, nectarine, lemon, bursting with white pepper
Riesling Federspiel Ried Bruck 2023
- More fragrant, floral, some gravel, softened with lees
Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Ried Achleiten 2022
- Tropical fruit, chalkiness, white river rock
Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Ried Kellerberg 2022
- Softer, fruity, notes of honey
Riesling Smaragd Ried Singerriel 2022
- Tropical fruit, apricot, honey; very soft but with a good layer of acidity
Riesling Smaragd Ried Loibenberg 2022
- Honey, icing/sugar cookie smell; well-balanced, rounder acidity, all-encompassing mouthfeel
While the Grüner Veltliners tended toward stone fruits, sharper minerality, and spiciness, the Rieslings tended toward tropical fruits, honey notes, and an overall rounder mouthfeel (still with great acidity!). The Rieslings, especially, indicated long ageability.
Final Thoughts
Although Austria may not be the first country that comes to mind when you think of wine, it certainly has many incredible wines to offer. Domäne Wachau produces some of the country’s very best, and their estate is definitely worth a visit. If you’re interested in trying Domäne Wachau wines at home, you can order them through a number of online retailers (like Wine.com) or you can find them in-person at many wine retailers near you (including but not limited to Total Wine).