On paper, Austria's wine world is neatly ordered. Grüner Veltliner stands at the top, accounting for almost a third of all vineyard area by itself. Those who read further down the statistics encounter varieties with tiny shares. Behind these numbers are people tending vines that many consider impractical. Three stories show what that looks like.

Tiny vineyards, large family ties

Zierfandler, also called Spätrot, grows on around 62 hectares according to Österreich Wein Marketing, which is 0.1 per cent of the total vineyard area. Rotgipfler accounts for about 111 hectares. The name comes from the reddish-bronze shoot tips, though the grapes themselves are white. Zierfandler berries, by contrast, turn reddish towards the end of ripening, hence "Spätrot" (late red).

Both varieties share the same parent: Roter Veltliner. It is a white wine, despite its name. It is also the parent of Neuburger. It still grows on well over 200 hectares, though the area has been declining since 1999 because many winemakers prefer to plant Grüner Veltliner in the same locations. The Veltliner family is therefore much larger than the label on the bottle suggests.

Traiskirchen: A winery as ark

Anyone wanting to know what Zierfandler can do soon finds themselves in Traiskirchen south of Vienna. Weingut Stadlmann has been dedicated to winemaking since 1780 according to Falstaff. Bernhard Stadlmann runs it in the eighth generation and took over the operation from his father Johann with the 2006 vintage. He holds three doctorates and has nevertheless chosen to work in the vineyard.

The Ried Mandel-Höh is home to Zierfandler. Its soils are dry and permeable, storing little water or nutrients. Stadlmann told a US importer that his family has worked there for more than 170 years. The variety doesn't make it easy. It ripens very late and is usually the last to be harvested. It needs a warm, dry, long autumn. Its berries are thin-skinned and therefore susceptible to frost and botrytis. This explains why it was long unpopular among winemakers: the effort in the vineyard is high, the yield low. Interest has only increased in recent years. There will never be large quantities, nonetheless.

In the cellar, Stadlmann relies on tradition. The Zierfandler from the Traiskirchen locality ferments spontaneously in large, neutral wooden casks and ages for almost a year on fine lees. Historically, Zierfandler and Rotgipfler were also bottled together as Spätrot-Rotgipfler, as known in the Gumpoldskirchen region. One importer writes that a Rotgipfler from the Thermenregion won first prize at the Paris World Exposition in 1855. This should be verified before publication.

Vienna: Orchestra instead of solo violin

Gemischter Satz is not a grape variety, but an approach: different varieties stand in the same vineyard, are harvested together and pressed together. Until the late 19th century this was customary. Then came phylloxera, first discovered in Klosterneuburg in 1872. After the Second World War, wire-frame training systems displaced the old plantings. In Vienna, Gemischter Satz survived as simple Heuriger wine. An old saying goes: one grape variety is a violin, Gemischter Satz is an orchestra.

That it is now regarded as a quality wine is a Vienna success story. In 2006, four winemakers founded the WienWein group, and in 2008 Slow Food added Gemischter Satz to its Ark of Taste. From the 2013 vintage, there is Wiener Gemischter Satz DAC. It must consist of at least three white quality grape varieties, none may exceed 50 per cent, and the third-largest must reach at least 10 per cent.

In old vineyards, rarities such as Roter Riesling, Gutedel, Grüner Portugieser, Rosenmuskateller, Österreich Weiß and Jubiläumsrebe are found. Hermann Prager names one of his wines "Ursatz". In this wine, even experienced oenologists can no longer identify all varieties. Rainer Christ from Weingut Christ says in a Biorama interview:

"If individual grape varieties become dominant in Gemischter Satz, the product has failed."

Weingut Fuhrgassl-Huber, meanwhile, calls the old planting method a recipe for dealing with climate change. The operation wants to protect old varieties without excluding new ones. The Ried Gollin on Nussberg has been documented as "Colein am Nussberg" since 1315, its vines were planted in 1960 and 1992.

Eisenstadt: Detective work in the archives

Perhaps the most unusual story begins in a library. Franz Xaver Lehner, head of the Eisenstadt Wine-growing Association, researched grape varieties from the time of Joseph Haydn at BOKU. In 2008, he came across a "black Schmeckende" – the Schwarzer Muskateller – in old books. A text from 1837 describes it as widespread, but everywhere only in small quantities. In an international variety catalogue he found it listed, among other names, as Muscat de Noir Eisenstadt. After eight years of research and analysis, it could be replanted in Eisenstadt. On winemaker Erwin Tinhof's Riede Feiersteig, 300 vines were planted.

The special feature: it is a blue grape that produces not a red wine but a very pale white or rosé with delicate muscat notes. On 26 March 2025, the wine was tasted in Eisenstadt town hall for the first time, and the event was repeatedly described as a world premiere. The production run is tiny: around one hundred bottles, each numbered and available in exchange for a donation to "Eisenstadt hilft". Tinhof emphasises that he is not aware of any other grape variety worldwide that bears the name of a city.

Old knowledge, new curiosity

The three stories have something in common. They are about varieties that would be economically easy to overlook, and about people who make time for them nonetheless. Sometimes it is the persistence of a family over eight generations, sometimes the determination of a researcher in the archives, sometimes the coming together of winemakers who turn a forgotten Heuriger wine into a DAC designation. Whether the rarities ever become more than niche products is an open question. Those who search for them, however, will find wines that taste of their place and of the people who work there.

Sources: www.oesterreichwein.at, www.oesterreichwein.at, www.oesterreichwein.at, www.winzerblog.at, www.tt.com, www.falstaff.com, www.rosenthalwinemerchant.com, www.grapecollective.com