The Hills Are Alive – (Reprise the Wine History, Culture, Scandal, and Resilience)

• Posted on 23 July 2025
• Posted in Austria, Gruner Veltliner, pinot noir, rotgifler, zweigelt
• 0

When you hear "Austria," your mind might drift to the soaring notes of The Sound of Music, or the snow-capped Alps glittering in the sun. But while those hills are indeed alive with music and beauty, they are not home to vineyards. The heart of Austrian wine lies not in the west, where the Alps dominate, but in the east, where the hills roll gently and the Danube River snakes its way through valleys steeped in history and vines.

Austria sits at the crossroads of Europe, and its winemaking history is a rich tapestry woven through millennia of migration, empire, and reinvention. Archaeological finds suggest that wine may have been made here as early as the Stone and Bronze Ages, using wild grapes by ancient Celts around 400 BC. But the real winemaking roots took hold with the Romans, who established the military outpost of Vindobona, present-day Vienna. As part of the northern frontier of the Roman Empire, the area around the Danube served both as a line of defense and a corridor of culture, where vines were planted with purpose.

With the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, much of the infrastructure was destroyed. But by the 9th century, Charlemagne had made Austria part of his Eastern March, drawing it into the Holy Roman Empire. Bavarian monks, especially the Cistercians, began to transform the Danube River valley into terraced vineyards, a practice still evident today in the steep, stone-walled slopes of the Wachau.

The 10th century brought the Babenberg dynasty, who helped Vienna blossom into a major trade center. In 1133, the foundation of the Heiligenkreuz Abbey by St. Leopold III, and the subsequent establishment of Klosterneuburg, introduced Burgundian wine culture via the Cistercian monks. These monks not only preserved religious tradition but also agricultural excellence, laying out meticulous vineyards, advancing cellar practices, and solidifying terracing in regions like the Wachau.

By the 15th and 16th centuries, Austrian wine production hit a high point, spreading over 150,000 hectares. Under Emperor Maximilian I, Vienna grew as a cultural capital, even as the empire expanded across Europe. But the following centuries were unkind to the vineyards. First came the Turkish sieges, most notably in 1529, which led to increased taxation on wine and a shift toward beer. Then, the 19th century brought the triple scourge of phylloxera, powdery mildew, and downy mildew, devastating vines even as scientific advancements in viticulture were beginning to take hold.

The 20th century was no less turbulent. As the Habsburg Empire crumbled after World War I, Vienna became a hotbed of intellectualism amid political disintegration. Think Freud, Schnitzler, and Kraus, writing against a backdrop of loss and transition. Austria didn’t regain full independence until 1955, after WWII and occupation by Allied powers. With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, Vienna resumed its historical role as a bridge between East and West.

But the modern wine industry still had one more dramatic act in store. In the 1970s and 1980s, Austria’s wine producers, many small and disjointed, struggled to compete internationally. In an ill-fated attempt to enhance the richness of their wines, a few large producers illegally added diethylene glycol, a toxic substance used in antifreeze. While it mimicked sweetness and body, the revelation of this adulteration in 1985 caused a global scandal. Exports crashed from nearly 30 million liters in 1985 to under 5 million in 1986. Austria’s wine reputation was in ruins.

Out of the ashes rose reform. The Austrian Wine Marketing Board (AWMB) was established in 1986, ushering in rigorous quality controls and a new commitment to transparency. And with that, Austria began a slow, steady climb back into the world’s good graces.

Today, Austria produces less than 1% of the world's wine, but what it lacks in volume, it makes up for in character, quality, and innovation. Of the 35 grape varieties approved under Austrian wine law, 22 are white, a reflection of the country’s cooler climate, most vineyards lie between the 47th and 48th parallels, like Beaune in Burgundy or Haut-Rhin in Alsace. You’ll find a few vineyards in the Alps themselves; most lie to the east, in the lower hills and plains around Vienna, Burgenland, and the Wachau.

Some highlights of Austrian wine today:

• Grüner Veltliner rules the vineyard, making up about a third of all Austrian wine. Its cold hardiness and versatile flavor profile make it a national treasure.
• Wachau, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is famed for Riesling and Grüner grown on sun-soaked, river-reflecting terraces.
• Neusiedlersee, a shallow lake bordering Hungary, provides the ideal microclimate for noble rot, producing some of the world’s finest sweet wines, with flavors of orange marmalade and honeysuckle.
• Vienna boasts the most urban vineyards of any city in the world, with over 1,600 acres inside the city limits.
• The traditional Gemischter Satz, or field blend, is back in style, featuring a mix of grapes like Grüner Veltliner, Riesling, Pinot Blanc, and others, all harvested and fermented together for a uniquely regional expression.

The story of Austrian wine is not just one of geography and grapevines, it is a tale of empires and abbeys, scandal and salvation, ancient tradition and modern resilience. From the Roman roots of Vindobona to the rebirth of Grüner, Austria continues to sing its own song in the global wine chorus. Yes, the hills are alive, but it's what grows beneath them, in terraced rows and quiet vineyards, that tells the truest story of Austria.