Think of Austria and white wine, and Grüner Veltliner comes to mind first. Statistically, that is entirely correct. According to figures from Österreich Wein Marketing, the national wine board, Riesling covers 2,025 hectares, or 4.6 per cent of the country’s vineyard area. A minor variety, then. But drive downstream along the Danube from Melk and you come away with a different impression. Here, in the Wachau, Kremstal and Kamptal, Riesling is a major matter – and one with a very distinctive profile.
Three regions, one river
The three regions lie close together in Lower Austria. The ÖWM’s “Österreich Wein” documentation (as of June 2026, vineyard data for 2023/24) gives the Wachau 1,285 hectares of vineyard, of which around 237 hectares are Riesling – 18.4 per cent. The Kremstal has 2,242 hectares with 248 hectares of Riesling, the Kamptal 3,567 hectares with 364 hectares of Riesling. Taken together, a good 40 per cent of Austria’s Riesling grows here. In none of the three regions is it the most widely planted variety, yet in the Wachau almost one vine in five is Riesling.
The Kamptal and Kremstal, incidentally, formed a single region called Kamptal-Donauland until 1993, as the wein.plus lexicon notes. Today each region has its own set of rules – and that, as we shall see shortly, is a favourite Austrian subject.
Primary rock and loess
Geologically, the three regions share a common foundation of crystalline primary rock. For the Wachau, Österreich Wein lists gneisses and amphibolites, including the Gföhl gneiss and the granodiorite gneiss of Spitz. On the gentler and east-facing slopes these are overlaid by loess, a fine, wind-blown dust from the Ice Age. In the Kremstal, too, Österreich Wein distinguishes between weathered primary-rock soils in the west and deep loess terraces in the east.
As a rough rule of thumb: Riesling on the stony, meagre primary-rock slopes, Grüner Veltliner on the deeper loess. Nature is not quite that tidy, admittedly, but the rule explains why Riesling here so often grows on steep, terraced plots.
In terms of climate, says Österreich Wein, two systems meet here: the western, Atlantic one and the eastern, Pannonian one. Added to this are cool downslope winds from the north, which bring marked differences between day and night temperatures. This helps the grapes retain aroma and acidity despite the warm summers.
The Wachau and its terraces
The region’s best-known image is the stone terraces of the Wachau. According to UNESCO, Bavarian and Salzburg monasteries began cultivating the slopes around the year 800, creating the pattern of vine terraces that is still visible today. Since 2000 the Wachau cultural landscape between Melk and Krems has been a World Heritage Site. The dry-stone walls are not merely scenery but a habitat: the Wachau’s highest wine category is named after the emerald lizard (Smaragdeidechse), which likes to bask on the warm stones.
Steinfeder, Federspiel, Smaragd
For the Wachau’s winegrowers gave themselves their own rules early on. In 1983 they founded the Vinea Wachau Nobilis Districtus and adopted the Codex Wachau as their own rulebook. From 1984 they created the trademarks Steinfeder, Federspiel and Smaragd; anyone using them commits to dry white wine made without enrichment and without perceptible oak influence. The three categories are registered trademarks of the association and graded by alcohol content. Steinfeder has a maximum of 11.5% abv and is named after a delicate grass that grows on the terraces. Federspiel goes up to 12.5%; the name comes from falconry. Smaragd begins above that and stands for wines from fully ripe grapes. For a Riesling this means that the label gives a rough indication of whether one is looking at a light summer wine or a dense wine built for ageing.
DAC: origin from the bottom up
In parallel, Austria has built up a state system of origin. DAC stands for Districtus Austriae Controllatus and denotes quality wines typical of their region. The Weinviertel led the way in 2003 with Grüner Veltliner. The Kremstal followed in 2007, the Kamptal with the 2008 vintage and the Wachau from the 2020 vintage. All three rely on a pyramid of regional wine, village wine and Riedenwein – Ried being the Austrian term for a single vineyard site. In the Wachau, any enrichment is prohibited for Riedenweine, and the grapes are picked by hand. The Kamptal revised its rulebook in 2024, in two stages: from the 2024 vintage, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris are permitted alongside Grüner Veltliner and Riesling. From the 2025 vintage, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Österreich Wein, only grapes certified organic or “Nachhaltig Austria” (sustainable) may be used, with an exemption only for very small producers.
Erste Lagen and the Heiligenstein
The third level is the site classification. Its driving force was the Österreichische Traditionsweingüter, or ÖTW – an association of leading traditional estates founded in 1991 by winegrowers from the Kamptal and Kremstal, among them Willi Bründlmayer from Langenlois. Since 2010 ÖTW members have designated selected Rieden as Erste Lage (roughly premier cru), recognisable by the abbreviation 1ÖTW. Along the Danube, the focus is chiefly on dry Grüner Veltliner and Riesling. The Wachau is not one of the ÖTW regions; with the Vinea it has its own system.
In 2023 the private initiative became law: since then, the Weinbezeichnungsverordnung, Austria’s wine labelling regulation, has governed the terms Erste Lage and Große Lage (roughly grand cru) for DAC wines from classified Rieden. A Ried can become a Große Lage no earlier than five years after being classified as an Erste Lage. The ÖTW itself spoke of a historic goal having been reached.
The Kamptal’s showpiece site is the Zöbinger Heiligenstein. The Bründlmayer estate, which farms 12 of its 36.7 hectares in total, describes the subsoil as red-brown, feldspar-rich sandstone and conglomerates from the Permian, formed some 250 to 280 million years ago in an arid, desert-like landscape and interspersed with debris of volcanic rhyolite. The terraced slope lies between 230 and 345 metres above sea level and faces south-south-west. A desert soil, then, on which one of Austria’s best-known Rieslings now grows. Geological history has a sense of humour.
How Danube Riesling tastes
Along the Danube, Riesling is overwhelmingly made dry – in the three Vinea categories, exclusively so. Compared with many German Rieslings it often comes across as somewhat fuller in body, yet stays fresh thanks to the cool nights. The primary-rock sites often yield taut wines with a stony character, stone fruit and citrus, while Smaragd Rieslings can be remarkably dense and long-lived.
Anyone wishing to explore the differences is best advised to line up three bottles side by side: a Federspiel from the Wachau, a Riedenwein from the Kremstal and an Erste Lage from the Heiligenstein. The Danube unites them; the rock divides them. And the rulebooks make sure that reading the labels is never dull.