In 1922, Zweigelt was officially entered into the crossing register under the name “Klosterneuburg 71.” Today—exactly 100 years later—it is the most popular red wine variety in Austria among producers and consumers alike. The Zweigelt wines from the eastern shore of Lake Neusiedl are particularly typical of the variety. This makes it the ideal setting for a conversation with Torsten Aumüller, Managing Director of the Neusiedlersee DAC Wine Association, in which Zweigelt plays the leading (grape variety) role.

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

In summer, when the days are long and the nights are short, things heat up around Lake Neusiedl. However, this is not just on its beaches, but above all on the vast shores where vines of exceptional quality thrive. After all, the lake, with its extraordinarily large surface area, creates a microclimate that is unique in the world. More than 100 wine-growing families on the eastern side of the vast steppe lake ensure that connoisseurs in Austria and throughout the world find magnificent wines in their glasses. And it is above all the particularly region-typical Zweigelt and the unique sweet wines that have long been on everyone’s lips, and not just in specialist circles. Wines from Lake Neusiedl are simply something special. Regional winegrowers have been proving this with every vintage for many decades. They are supported by the Neusiedlersee DAC Wine Association, which has one main goal in mind: to bring the wide world a taste of these particularly region-typical treasures—Zweigelt and sweet wines. “A long-term mission,” says CEO Torsten Aumüller. In any case, it is one that is receiving a real tailwind, especially in the anniversary year of the Zweigelt grape variety.

DAC. An abbreviation found on many, but by no means all, wine bottles. What do these three letters actually mean?

Torsten Aumüller: DAC is an abbreviation for the cumbersome Latin expression “Districtus Austriae Controllatus.” The basic idea behind it is that the origin and the special characteristics of that origin are strengthened. Let’s take Grüner Veltliner as an example. It is recognized as the Austrian white wine grape variety par excellence, and many people automatically associate this variety with Austria. The fact is, however, that due to its international success story, Grüner Veltliner is now also planted in other countries such as Slovakia, Bulgaria, or Romania. This means that a Grüner Veltliner on a wine list no longer necessarily has to come from Austria. To provide a means of orientation here, the origin of the wines is strengthened, thereby simultaneously underlining the special characteristics of the respective region. After all, we all associate many products with a regionally typical style. We order a Rioja, a Chianti, a Prosecco, a Bordeaux, or a Burgundy and always associate this with a protected origin and region-defining typicity. This is exactly the kind of positive association that the domestic DAC system aims to create. That is why we have also taken the path here of clearly defining origins and typicities and thus placing them more in the foreground. Legally, this is represented by the name of the respective origin followed by the abbreviation DAC. So if—as in our case—”Neusiedlersee DAC” is on the label, the consumer can be sure that the grapes come from exactly this area, were processed here, and were also bottled in the region. Specifically, in our case, these are the most regionally significant grape variety, Zweigelt, and—since 2020—also the sweet wines from Lake Neusiedl.

And as Neusiedlersee DAC, you try to pull together and be even more successful internationally?

Torsten Aumüller: Yes, that is the big idea behind it. We want to be perceived better as a region nationally, but also internationally, and thus stronger and, above all, more secure in an increasingly global world. A Neusiedlersee DAC Zweigelt comes from this region. A Neusiedlersee DAC sweet wine—whether Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, or Trockenbeerenauslese—also comes from this region. Period. There is no way to cheat. The consumer gets a 100% guarantee of origin and region-defining quality.

Does this community help in difficult times—keyword: pandemic—or do you tend to get in each other’s way?

Torsten Aumüller: This community has naturally done a great deal for the region over the past two years, especially in social networks and print media. On the whole, the winegrowers who produce Neusiedlersee DAC wines have actually come through the crisis very well. Especially those who are listed in supermarkets. However, we certainly also benefited from the fact that we had already positioned ourselves multi-dimensionally before the crisis, namely in terms of wine tourism. For the more than 100 Neusiedlersee DAC winegrowers, the following applies: like the land, so the wines & people—accessible, diverse, authentic. We are also a “UNESCO World Heritage Region with significant viticulture.” Anyone who is a member here is therefore committed not only to the typicity of origin in the vineyard, cellar, bottle, and glass.

So the Neusiedlersee DAC self-image is not exclusively focused on the wine in the bottle—keyword: Pannonian accessibility?

Torsten Aumüller: Exactly. Our destination is very centrally located in Europe, close to the three major cities of Budapest, Bratislava, and Vienna. People know this and have come to love the area as a relevant local recreation area. Cycling is a major factor, for example, but also wine hiking through the vineyards. The special culinary offerings are just as important—and wine immediately plays a very significant role there. In the meantime, however, quite a few of our guests come specifically for the wine. Because they feel comfortable with the winegrowers, can stay here, and receive a friendly welcome. That is definitely not the case in many international wine-growing regions. Here, it is an integral part of our lives. As people, we also stand for Pannonian accessibility: 360 days a year—often without an appointment, but always without pretension.

Just like the region’s flagship—Zweigelt. It is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. How can you say that so precisely for a grape variety?

Torsten Aumüller: Quite simply: Zweigelt is a cross between two old Austrian grape varieties, St. Laurent and Blaufränkisch, and—after the cross was successful—it was entered into the so-called public-law crossing book in 1922. And thus its “year of birth” is virtually official.

So Austria’s most popular red wine was created specifically and individually, just as wines are ultimately always very specific and individual products?

Torsten Aumüller: In a manner of speaking. The new grape variety was intended to exhibit above-average versatility in terms of soil, climate, and vinification. At the same time, the economic challenges of the post-war period also revealed a need for a high-yielding grape variety. This—what we would call a requirement profile today—required a specific and individual approach.

And? Did it work?

Torsten Aumüller: 100 years later, one can say: yes, it was successful. At the same time, it should be noted that the original idea was not immediately fully accepted. This was mainly due to the intensive vineyard work required for this new grape variety. Additional changes were therefore needed, which also came in the 1960s. Until then, the so-called “Stockkultur” (bush training) was the predominant type of cultivation in viticulture. This meant that care and harvesting were very, very arduous work. At that time, people thought three times about whether to replant one of their vineyards, and then with such a labor-intensive grape variety. Zweigelt became a success story almost exactly from the moment when the high-culture system of Lenz Moser, which is predominant today, established itself as a cultivation method in viticulture. Lenz Moser—both with his invention and as a person—finally paved the way for Zweigelt and helped lead it to success. Today, Zweigelt is Austria’s most popular red wine variety—somehow the “red Grüner Veltliner” of Austria: widespread in all growing regions, the No. 1 grape variety for red wine, versatile in terroir, and diverse in vinification. Zweigelt can do what Grüner Veltliner can do: be vinified classically in stainless steel or large used wooden barrels. It also performs well as a cellar-worthy Reserve in small barriques. And regardless of the aging process, it is also able to reflect the characteristics of individual vineyards in the bottle and glass. A true red all-rounder—and thus somehow the red Austrian “Grüner Veltliner equivalent.”

In short: Zweigelt can do everything—but is it appreciated and honored accordingly by everyone?

Torsten Aumüller: Well, Zweigelt is certainly drunk and enjoyed. If that weren’t the case, the cultivated area would not be steadily increasing. At the same time, however, there are still many wine critics, especially internationally, who are not yet aware of the advantages of Zweigelt. But that is more because they don’t yet really know it in all its facets. This is a circumstance that can also be attributed to the success of Zweigelt in the German-speaking world. It has not yet sought the attention of the English-speaking wine press as much, because it was so successful in other markets. However, it is now evident and increasingly recognized that Zweigelt can also succeed on the international wine stage.

So can Zweigelt also surprise experienced wine connoisseurs?

Torsten Aumüller: Definitely. Because it is an incredibly diverse grape variety. Zweigelt can express the climatic peculiarities of sites, even micro-sites. It can present itself differently in stainless steel as well as in mixed aging—stainless steel and large wood. But Zweigelt can just as easily find itself in small oak barrels and even here preserve and play out its typicities. This means there is no single “Zweigelt”; rather, it always reflects its specific origin in the bottle and glass.

Does that mean that just because I like the origin-typical Neusiedlersee DAC Zweigelt, I don’t necessarily like Zweigelt per se?

Torsten Aumüller: Well, in a way, yes. Zweigelt does have certain general characteristics—just like every other grape variety, for that matter. With Zweigelt, the depth of color is very typical and present throughout Austria. This is due to the high number of color pigments contained in its rather thick skin, which are skillfully extracted by the winegrowers during vinification. In the glass, a Zweigelt then shows its origin—sometimes very clearly. The cooler the growing region, the more reserved its fruit; at the same time, the structure and acidity are tighter. In growing regions blessed with hours of sunshine, such as the eastern shore of Lake Neusiedl, it then shows its very inviting and accessible side: always juicy and fruit-forward—sometimes more red-berried, sometimes more black-berried—very clear on the nose and palate and characterized by a light salty minerality due to the numerous salt and soda ponds in our area. Not twenty kilometers away, in the Carnuntum wine region, a Zweigelt already tastes noticeably different—and yet typical of the area. Origin is origin. Zweigelt reflects that really well.

Where do these differences come from despite all the similarities? From the terroir?

Torsten Aumüller: These two regions—Neusiedlersee and Carnuntum—are actually only separated from each other by a slight range of hills, and yet they are so different. The water of the nearby Danube is cooler than that of Lake Neusiedl. There is more precipitation in Carnuntum and the average temperature is slightly lower. The temperature differences between day and night are also more pronounced, as the temperature drops faster due to the Danube. This leads, for example, to a somewhat more striking acid structure. In our region, in turn, the lake stores the heat of the day and releases it—slightly cooled—gently at night. The permanent winds blow North-West, ventilating the vineyards with the cooled lake air. These microclimatic peculiarities are partly responsible for the fact that a Zweigelt from Lake Neusiedl presents itself as so accessible, velvety-soft, and fruit-forward. As I said, we are talking about minimal microclimatic differences here, and yet the result in the glass is definitely clearly discernible for every connoisseur. The fine differences become even more apparent the further you follow Zweigelt towards western Austria—Weinviertel, Kamptal, Kremstal & Co. And in southern Austria, Styria, it again presents itself somewhat differently in the bottle and glass. However, it is typical of the region at all times. The size of the Neusiedlersee wine-growing region within the Austrian DAC system, however, also somehow means that the Zweigelt typicity prevailing here is also defining for Austria as a whole.

The already mentioned reliability of Zweigelt could play a special role in the near future: climate change has long been noticeable, especially in agriculture. Does this cause Zweigelt winegrowers less concern?

Torsten Aumüller: I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Zweigelt is 100% protected against climate change. However, it is still reliable in yield, and its already mentioned versatility could also help it with this challenge. But of course, we don’t know what things will look like in 40 or 50 years.

And how are the sweet wine grape varieties reacting?

Torsten Aumüller: We generally assume a warming trend. Let me put it this way: if I look at other important sweet wine regions in the world, their challenges are likely to become increasingly greater regarding the formation of the noble rot necessary for high-quality sweet wine production. You can already see this somewhat in the fact that more and more dry white wines from these areas are coming onto the market. In our region, the low-pressure moments with ground fog are still there. We therefore still have the important humidity and the wet autumn nights. In interaction with the constant permanent winds, we find, as usual, absolutely intact and natural conditions for the development of noble sweet grapes in the area.

Are there any considerations to categorize other grape varieties, new grape varieties, as particularly typical of the area and thus award them Neusiedlersee DAC?

Torsten Aumüller: Our region has the advantage that it can produce qualities in white, red, and sweet, and at a very high level—both nationally and internationally. But this diversity is both a curse and a blessing. A blessing because we can cover the entire spectrum that a wine drinker wants to enjoy with products from our own area. The curse, of course, is that the question arises: what does the region stand for—especially internationally? Because even if everything seems possible, the question then arises, especially internationally: what can the area do credibly and really, really well? That’s why it was very clear at the beginning that we would focus on Zweigelt. As a grape variety, it can do quite a lot, and the winegrowers also understand it really well—in the vineyard, cellar, and bottle. And in terms of sweet wines, we even have an absolute exceptional position in the wine world. It was therefore only logical to add them at the right time—and that was 2020. Now, however, many white wine grape varieties also feel very much at home here in the region and help to shape it. Especially the Pinot varieties: Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay. I wouldn’t want to rule out today that we might not also represent one or more white wine grape varieties in the Neusiedlersee DAC. Currently, we want to watch from our comfortable position to see what else is happening around us in the Austrian DAC system of origin. However, when the time is ripe for further changes, we will certainly take action—for our winegrowers, for our region, for our future.

Let’s take a look into this unpredictable future anyway: what are the goals you are pursuing with the Neusiedlersee DAC Wine Association in the near future?

Torsten Aumüller: Our goals are very diverse. From our point of view, the following applies to Zweigelt: it should build on the international success of Grüner Veltliner. Zweigelt should symbolically become the new Grüner Veltliner story. My very personal wish is that every importer who imports and sells an Austrian Grüner Veltliner today will, in five years’ time, have Zweigelt—which is no less typical for Austria than Grüner Veltliner—in their range and offer it to their customers—ideally a Neusiedlersee DAC Zweigelt. For sweet wines, it’s a bit the other way around. These already have a world reputation outside our national borders and are listed in every top restaurant and every top hotel in the world. Whether in the Near East, the Arab world, Asia, or across the Atlantic and Pacific. Sweet wines from Lake Neusiedl are extremely successful internationally. Now it is a matter of transforming this top international reputation into brilliance and luster on the domestic market as well. The designation of origin Neusiedlersee DAC as well as the narrower origin “Seewinkel” for those sweet wines whose grapes are pressed from the villages of Podersdorf, Illmitz, and/or Apetlon, is intended to actively support the numerous committed winegrowers in this. To put it in a typically Austrian way: the prophet should also be worth something in his own country. And rightly so!

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

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