Barrel Dork

The color on these wines.😍🧡

If Austrian wine isn’t on your radar, it should be! 🇦🇹

One of our Women of Vinum group members, Kathleen , with and — a Portland-based importer focused on Austrian wines — just led us through a mini-class after her recent work trip to Austria, where she met growers and delved deep into the region of Styria.

Austria is doing some exciting, thoughtful, future-facing work in wine right now. A few things that stood out from our class:

✨ Indigenous varietials you don’t see anywhere else
✨ PIWIs — fungus-resistant grapes bred for sustainability and reduced vineyard inputs 
✨ A huge range of vessels in the cellars — stainless steel, large oak casks, barriques, clay & amphora, qvevri, concrete
✨ Pristine cellar work and a serious focus on cleanliness
✨ “0/0” winemaking: zero additions and zero removals. No commercial yeast, sugar, acid, or sulfites added; typically unfined and unfiltered. Just grape juice in its purist form

The producer we tried a flight of was in Styria. They’re a biodynamic, third-generation family estate farming PIWI varieties alongside European grapes. Their wines are often made with skin contact and are aged in a variety of vessels.

Their skin-contact whites were textured, beautiful in color, alive, savory, aromatic, so layered… I could go on.🧡

I went home with the CARA, their white blend of PIWI varietals Bronner and Souvignier Gris, with Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, and a touch of Grüner Veltliner. It spent 40 hours on the skins and 3 years aging in the cellar. It was insanely delicious — both crushable and the kind of wine I want to sit with, think about, and savor.

I hope this inspired you to drink more Austrian wine this summer. And if you see Ploder-Rosenberg on a list or shelf, grab it. 👊