Why should only fine port wines conjure summer into a cocktail glass? Or champagne? That’s what Austria’s currently best bartender Isabella Lombardo thought – and without further ado, she created drinks from particularly regionally typical sweet wines. Spoiler: It’s quite wow!

With the support of the federal government, the province and the European Union.

It is a very special flair. You walk along the rushing Douro, the sun burning your face. Every few minutes, the wind blows a breeze of Atlantic air into your nose, interrupting the otherwise dominant scent of fermented fruits. If you pay close attention, the right bank of the river smells a little like notes of dried fruit, cinnamon, and cloves. This is no wonder – the promenade is lined with large and consistently renowned port wine cellars. And in between, there are crowds of people everywhere – either tasting port wine or port wine cocktails.

You read that correctly. In the proud home of the world-famous port wine, it is used at every corner as a base for extraordinary cocktails. You can find Port Negroni on the menus of local bars just as much as Portirinha and, above all, Portonic. The modified gin and tonic is considered the ultimate summer drink here. And it was likely these impressions that led Isabella Lombardo, currently named Austria’s best bartender by the industry magazine Rolling Pin, onto a special track. “If you can make drinks with sweet port wine, then it must also work with the magnificent and origin-protected Neusiedlersee DAC sweet wines,” the super-mixologist thought.

Perfect interplay of acidity and sweetness

The expert had these particularly regionally typical drops from Lake Neusiedl on her radar for a long time: “Sweet wines with a high residual sugar content represent a particularly high-quality wine category,” she says. “In the bar, they therefore serve as a perfect sugar substitute that is also thoroughly natural. Furthermore, well-made sweet wines always contain a relatively high amount of acidity,” Lombardo points out. This means that they “never appear cloying or artificial. Rather, a perfect interplay of acidity and sweetness is created – and with a low alcohol content to boot.” All characteristics that make sweet wines the ideal cocktail ingredient. Because: “This balance between acidity and sweetness is a great advantage for many cocktails and their other ingredients, as it allows the individual nuances of the drink to be better emphasized and highlighted.”

No sooner said than done: The well-known mixologist first traveled by train to one of the most important sweet wine appellations in the wine world, the wine region of origin Neusiedlersee DAC. Many places were visited and even more were tasted before she headed back behind the bar. There, she composed and orchestrated with a fruit-sweet Neusiedlersee DAC Spätlese and a noble-sweet Neusiedlersee DAC Reserve Beerenauslese. And right off the bat: the results are not only impressive to look at, but above all, to taste! “Ultimately, I developed an aperitif and a cocktail. And in my view, both can more than hold their own against the Portuguese port wine mix creations,” says Lombardo with a wink.

New markets for sweet wines from Lake Neusiedl: Looking beyond the horizon

She has certainly convinced one person with her creations: Neusiedlersee DAC Managing Director Torsten Aumüller is very impressed by the drinks. “Using such high-quality and 100% regional products like the Neusiedlersee DAC sweet wines for cocktails is certainly a very exciting idea. Isabella Lombardo shows us what else can be made from the sweet wines of our member businesses. That they don’t just pair with a dessert. That we ourselves should look beyond the horizon to pave new ways for our own products to reach consumers. That’s how Champagne once dared and succeeded!”

In his opinion, sweet wine in Austria is still underestimated or misunderstood by many. Especially the fact that sweet wines are not just sweet, but can also shine with a great interplay of sweetness and acidity – solo or now also in aperitifs and cocktails. And Aumüller poses another question: “Who says that Neusiedlersee DAC sweet wine might not also be a wonderful aperitif, or accompany a fruity summer salad or the typical Austrian roast pork – entirely without further ingredients?”

The fact is that Neusiedlersee DAC sweet wines, through creative ideas like those of Isabella Lombardo, may soon not only make a broad international impact but also reach new target groups in Austria. And by the way: until a few years ago, port wine was also generally considered a dusty drink in Portugal, perhaps sipped by elderly ladies. Today, it is on everyone’s lips – the hip port drinks have certainly done no harm in that regard…

Isabella Lombardo’s recipes to mix at home

Spätlese Neusiedlersee DAC – Aperitif:

• 6 cl fruit-sweet Neusiedlersee DAC Spätlese
• 4 cl Gin
• 3 cl Lemon
• 2 cl Cranberry syrup

Beerenauslese Neusiedlersee DAC Reserve – Cocktail:

• 4 cl noble-sweet Neusiedlersee DAC Reserve Beerenauslese
• 2 cl Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva
• 2 cl Franz Vermouth
• 0.5 cl Supasawa
• 0.5 Bourbon vanilla
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters

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Neusiedlersee DAC.
Unique Zweigelt. Unique sweet wines.
From the sunny side of Austria. To the delight of every palate.

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