Five top takeaways from VieVinum
From astronomical sales growth in Canada to Pinot Noir prowess, Gabriel Stone picks out the key talking points from VieVinum 2026.
Last weekend more than 1,000 international visitors joined Austrian wine producers and locals in Vienna’s majestic Hofburg Palace for VieVinum 2026. Here, we take a look at some of the key themes to emerge from the event.
1.Canada provides export cheer (+517% growth)
Chris Yorke, CEO of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board, used VieVinum to celebrate Austria’s wine successes both at home and abroad.
While the domestic market remains very loyal, with Austrian wines accounting for roughly 90% of on-trade sales and 70% of off-trade sales, tough market conditions internationally have created a more mixed export picture. Austria’s total exports in 2025 hit €218.9 million, a fall from their historic high of €248.2m in 2023 but still a 53% increase on the country’s €143.4m shipments a decade ago.
With a 42.6% value share of exports, Germany represents the largest overseas market for Austrian wine by some distance. Next comes Switzerland with an 8.1% share, followed by the Netherlands at 8% and then the US at 7.8%.
Although Canada only sits in fifth place with a 7.1% value share of Austrian wine exports, Yorke highlighted this country’s explosive 517% value growth in the last six years alone. From a total value of €2.5m in 2019, Austrian wine shipments to Canada reached €15.4m in 2025.
That success looks set to build further thanks to a major development in April, when 1,000 stores across Ontario and Quebec gave Austria its own category area. “You’re not hunting through ‘Other countries’ or even ‘Germany’,” remarked Yorke of this boost to Austria’s profile in this increasingly important market.
UK shipments in 2025 were more modest, accounting for 1.6% of total exports. “The UK has been problematic because of Brexit and the problem of shipping,” acknowledged Yorke, “but it’s still a very important market for us because of the number of influencers there.”
Summarising Austria’s appeal across its key markets, Yorke concluded: “We think that our cool climate, fresh, slightly lower alcohol, environmentally conscious wines are really what people are looking to buy.”
2. Split personality
Are you looking for sophisticated, single-vineyard expressions or funky labels and simple, summer picnic appeal? In Austria it’s quite normal to find both styles of wine under the same roof.
It’s partly explained by a culture that so often encourages the next generation to take a leading role in their family winery from a young age. A prime example is Weingut Netzl in Carnuntum, where Franz Netzl works in partnership with his daughter Christina. The estate is best known for its age-worthy, single vineyard Zweigelt, whether playing the lead role in a blend or allowed to shine on its own. But alongside these DAC wines with their close focus on origin sits the “Christina” range, which is far less traditional both in presentation and taste.
What started as a project in 2015 became part of the producer’s commercial portfolio in 2018 and now features six wines, each with an eye-catching, nature-inspired label. Christina Netzl presented the range which bears her name as “unfiltered, easy going, more fruit-driven”, and designed as an accessible introduction to the estate, particularly among younger audiences.
“We need to catch them with something uncomplicated to start with,” she remarked. “When it’s too complicated they are a little bit shy, but when they get used to the origins and grapes then you can show them the single vineyard wines.”
This crossover appeal is starting to be reflected by importers in countries such as Finland and Japan, both of which initially shipped only the Christina range. Now, however, reported Netzl, “In the last year there has been a development and people are starting to import the origin wines too.”
3. Austria’s elite producers take a lead
When it comes to telling that origin story, the Österreichischer Traditionsweingüter (ÖTW), a winegrowers’ association whose 92 members include many of the country’s top estates, used VieVinum to set out its own commitment to promoting this aspect as a core value.
“Origin is the most democratic way to sell wine,” maintained ÖTW chairman Michael Moosbrugger, CEO of Weingut Schloss Gobelsburg.
From its original focus on developing a vineyard-based classification system for Austria’s wine regions, the ÖTW has now taken on broader ambitions. “We’re also a strong platform for education and international visibility,” observed the association’s managing director, Michael Tischler-Zimmerman.
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Central to this objective remains the ÖTW’s annual Single Vineyard Summit, established in 2013, which this year will pour more than 600 of Austria’s single vineyard wines over four days. Despite representing just 8% of Austria’s total production, the organisation has also been working closely with politicians to overhaul the country’s wine law, which will include scope for individual regions to recognise new wine styles within their designation of origin. “It’s nearly one-third shorter than it used to be, which is a great sign,” observed Moosbrugger of the new legislation.
VieVinum offered an opportunity for the ÖTW to illustrate the variety of other ways it can help Austrian wine to connect meaningfully with international audiences. One evening saw members host a series of winemaker dinners, another featured a more relaxed After Party in Vienna’s Volksgarten. A brand new website, www.oetw.at, launched just ahead of the show. “We’re going away from facts and raw data to make it more enlightening,” outlined Tischler-Zimmerman.
As the ÖTW looks to the future, Moosbrugger announced his retirement after 30 years’ involvement with the association, 20 of them as chairman. “It’s been a great journey, I have to say,” he commented, confirming that his successor would be announced at the Single Vineyard Summit in September. “It’s goodbye with a light heart.”
4. Pinot paradise
This is a country whose Pinot roots run deep. Thanks to Cistercian monks, Pinot Noir has been cultivated in Austria since the 14th century. But producers in many regions show that they take the whole Pinot family seriously, including Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris.
Steiermark may be most closely associated with high quality Sauvignon Blanc, but white Pinot varieties also thrive in this southern part of Austria. “Our village, Straden, is really well known for Pinot Gris as well,” explained Florian Schütky, head of sales for Weingut Krispel in the cool, basalt-rich Vulkan Steiermark region. “The combination of soil, climate and grape variety fits really perfectly.”
Further north, in the warmer, drier climate of Burgenland, Pinot Blanc receives single vineyard treatment at the historic Esterházy estate. Meanwhile, both Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris play leading roles in the Austrian capital’s own Wiener Gemischter Satz DAC blends, as demonstrated to great effect by one of this style’s most prominent producers, Wieninger.
Up in Weinviertel, one of Austria’s brightest young winemakers, Katharina Gessl, features Pinot Blanc alongside Grüner Veltliner and Riesling in her Spompanadeln (“Playground”) white blend. “If you taste the berries it has similarities to Grüner,” she suggested, “and similarly you can use it for different things: fuller or acidity-driven wines. For sparkling wines too it has the aroma and structure.”
As for Pinot Noir, plantings remain considerably lower than for Austria’s flagship reds, Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt, but there are signs that the variety’s profile and popularity is on the rise.
In Thermenregion, Weingut Hartl has a well-established Pinot Noir specialism. On show at VieVinum was a special project from the 2023 vintage, “Beere für Beere” (Berry for Berry), which was inspired by winemaker Heinrich Hartl’s harvest experience at Domaine Pierre-Olivier Garcia in Burgundy. Vinification featured a labour-intensive portion of hand-destemmed berries, whose intracellular fermentation – carbonic maceration – brings a vibrant, fruity component to the end result.
Burgundy also provided the inspiration for a high-profile release from top Wachau estate FX Pichler. The producer used VieVinum to unveil its first ever Pinot Noir – indeed, its first ever red wine.
5. It wasn’t all about Austria
Austria deployed the convening power of VieVinum to host the “United Nations of Blaufränkisch”. A bar-style format brought together expressions of this great Central Europe grape variety under its many guises: Austrian Blaufränkisch, Hungarian Kékfrankos, German Lemberger, Italian Franconia, Polish Dobre Modre, Romanian Burgund Mare, Czech Frankovka, Slovenian Modra Frankinja and Slovakian Frankovka Modrá.
“It’s great to see the diversity of the wines,” commented Dominicka Černohorská, winemaker at Plenér winery in the Czech Republic. Here, just a few kilometres from Austria’s north-eastern border, she explained: “I love the connection between the limestone soil and the Blaufränkisch variety. It’s salty, something special.”
Černohorská noted the historical importance of Blaufränkisch in her winery’s Pálava region, although “now it’s mostly whites.”
At home, the variety’s image still requires an overhaul thanks to the legacy of 20th century politics. “Blaufränkisch has a weird reputation because it was the only red wine that was in wine bars during the Communist era so most people think it’s a cheap wine,” she explained.
While this United Nations of Blaufränkisch format highlighted the broad stylistic spectrum that Blaufränkisch can achieve, Černohorská outlined her own focus at Plenér. “I like to make a fruity, fresh style of Blaufränkisch – like when you pick a cherry from the tree and you just want to pick another.” When growing season conditions permit, she also loves to make lower alcohol expressions, which appear to be further helping the rehabilitation of this variety’s domestic image.
“In 2020 we made a 10.5% ABV Blaufränkisch and it was great,” recalled Černohorská. “People loved it and we sold out really fast.”
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