Austrian Wines launches “ground-breaking” atlas mapping origins of all of its wines

Austrian Wine has launched a ground-breaking digital atlas charting the origins of all of the country’s wines, the first interactive map of its kind to map an entire wine-producing country.

The new atlas, austrianvineyards.com, brings together all of Austria’s legally defined wine origins on a single interactive map, providing detailed information of all of Austria’s wines at a glance.

As well as covering entry level wines (known simply as Austrian wines), the map charts all 27 winegrowing regions, 458 winegrowing municipalities, its premium tiers village wines (Orstwein, of which there are 56) and single vineyard (Ried or Rieden wines).

The smaller the designated origin, the more detailed the information there is, so all of Austria’s 4,343 single vineyard wines include details on the areas under vine, elevation, incline, orientation, average temperature, precipitation and sunshine hours which Austrian Wine say are key parameters to determine the quality and characteristic flavour of that origin.

The website will be keep up to date to reflect the latest legal developments within the wine industry, Austrian Wine said, adding that single vineyards in the Steiermark (Styria), which are still in the process of being officially defined, will be added to the platform by the end of the year.

Austrian Wines said it was a pioneering milestone within the international wine industry, noting that “no other wine-producing country has ever catalogued all the origins of its wines and presented them in such a detailed way as this.”

It is the culmination of three year’s work by the Austrian Wine Marketing Board and the Department of Geography and Regional Research at the University of Vienna and the firm plan+land.

The trade marketing body is also publishing printed single vineyard maps of all winegrowing regions for all single vineyards that have been legally defined.

Susanne Ertler-Staggl, the project manager for the Austrian Vineyards project at Austrian Wine noted that clear, transparent information about all wine origins was “the foundation” for any serious and successful wine-producing country.

“It builds consumer confidence in the product because it allows the wine to be traced back to its very roots,” she said. “We are proud of becoming the first wine-producing country in the world that has managed to bring together information on the origins of all of its wines in one place.”

Chris Yorke, CEO, Austrian Wine said the project made Austria ‘international pioneers”.

“Right from the outset, our goal was to provide our winegrowers with the best tool to drive their marketing forwards, whether this be to promote ex-cellar sales, wine tastings or exports. However, wine merchants, sommeliers and journalists from all corners of the world can now gain unprecedented insights into the wine-producing country of Austria, too,” he said.

The initiative was supported by Elisabeth Köstinger, Austrian Minister of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism, who called it a “global statement” about Austria’s wine productionthat showed Austria was at the cutting edge of the industry.

“Nowhere else can you find all the origins of a wine-producing country shown at a glance. Consumers will now know precisely where their Austrian wine comes from, right down to the specific vineyard. From now on, you’ll be able to taste the origin of wine – AND explore it!”

Johannes Schmuckenschlager, Chairman of the Austrian Winegrowers’ Association said the new single vineyard maps – both digital and printed – represented “the very essence of origin marketing” for Austrian wines.

“Our winegrowers now have an exceptional tool with which they can recount the origin and history behind their outstanding wines – both in the local market and around the world.”

“It builds consumer confidence in the product because it allows the wine to be traced back to its very roots,” she said. Following our successful association with the University of Vienna and the firm plan+land, we are proud of becoming the first wine-producing country in the world that has managed to bring together information on the origins of all of its wines in one place.”