Emperor Marcus Aurelius Probus, a man of great foresight, laid out the first Viennese vineyards and today, when the Viennese walk down the Probusgasse, they’re reminded of his immense contribution to their wine heritage. He couldn’t tolerate idleness (actually, he was generally intolerant about most things) and when he realized what idle soldiers could get up to, he instructed them to plant grapes; and grapes they planted indeed! Later, when the Habsburgs took over the show, they followed in Probus’s footsteps and continued improving upon his

legacy. In 1985 the infamous glucose scandal erupted in Europe! Corrupt and greedy winemakers used antifreeze on grapes and Austria was amongst the countries that suffered. The Austrian government reacted immediately and passed a law enforcing organic grape production and today Austria produces outstanding wines that can compete with Germany and Italy. Wine has been drunk in Austria for over 2800 years – grape seeds from the vitis vinifera species were discovered in Zagersdorf in an ancient grave dating back to the Hallstatt period in 700 BC. When the Celts settled there about 300 years later, they continued cultivation and later, during the Roman occupation, winemaking turned into an art form and flourished in Noricum – the wines were so good that they were even exported to Rome and an

amphora of this wine could be exchanged for a young slave! One of the older Roman areas that still produce wine to this day is Carnuntum and dry white wines are excellent. In 92 AD. Domitian, after an excellent wine harvest was followed by a terrible grain harvest, decreed that no more vineyards be planted and production be halved. It doesn’t seem to have been very strictly enforced but a successor of his, Probus, repealed the edict in 280 AD and encouraged aggressive planting of new vineyards. The ‘Barbarian‘ invasions that swept in from the Hungarian plains towards Italy and westward almost destroyed all the precious vines and as destruction set in, the Romans fled for their lives. Fortunately, the Lombards moved in and took over the production and cultivation of vines and in some cases they planted vines where the Romans had not yet planted. After the defeat of the Magyars in 955, vine growing improved and a new breed of vintner was born – the Bavarian Monastry!  (The very first monastery,

Gottweig high up on the cliffs opposite Krems, is still there to this day). Germanic settlers arrived in the Burgenland on the edge of the Pannonian Plain before the end of the 9th century where they planted the first new vineyards since the era of Probus. Charlemagne granted them the rights to the first ever Buschenschenken, the forerunners of today’s famous Austrian heurigers and these inns had the right to sell their own locally produced wines for a set number of days per year without having to pay taxes. The monks proved to be the amongst the greatest innovators in the vineyard and consistently introduced new and well-loved vines from wherever they came. By the 11th and 12th centuries, Austria was exporting wine all over Europe and Viennese and Krems wine found it’s way not only to the neighbouring lands of Bohemia, Moravia and Hungary, but also to northern Germany, the Baltic States and even the United Kingdom. Wine production was so important that laws enacted in 1352 provided for brutal punishment in the case of grape theft (ears would be lopped off) and laziness in the vineyards (hands would be amputated.) In 1681 Vienna became an Imperial Free City but disaster was around the corner and the

following year a plague of locusts struck to be followed by the Turks in 1683 hell bent on invading Vienna. They didn’t manage to take Vienna thanks to Prince Eugene of Savoy who, with the Polish forces (image of the Polish winged lancers above), attacked the Turk’s rear flank and only one Turk remained – in the town of Purbach because he was too drunk to walk and couldn’t follow his countrymen. The 30 year War with Sweden, the increased consumption of beer, ridiculous taxes and the French Revolution had a very negative effect on Austrian wines with the situation deteriorating consistently. At the great monastery at Kloisterneuburg, Napoleon blew up the cellars containing centuries old vintages and only the great tun (barrel) of the monastery survived. In 1945 Russian soldiers drank the same monastery dry and the French invasions of 1805 and 1809 trashed it’s vineyards. To crown it all, the Battle of Wagram that sealed Austria’s defeat was actually fought in one the best vineyards. At the beginning of Waterloo, wine consumption was almost non-existent, conscription into Napoleon’s army limited manpower and the harvests were terrible but when it was all over, Austrian winemakers certainly did their best to improve their wines. The first wine industries were established in

1817 and in that time the Austrian wine industry flourished both technologically and qualitatively. Pinot Noir and Grüner Veltliner were both introduced and the popularity of sparkling wines made steadily grew. Robert Schlumberger founded the largest sekt house 1842 in Austria. But, disaster struck yet again in the second half of the 1800′s in Rust when the Neusiedlersee (the large lake responsible for the mist & the noble rot) dried up between 1865 & 1871. Far too many vintners began to cut corners and produce poorer quality wines and then around the same time,  the vineyards were ravaged by

• peronospora (downy mildew),
• oidium (powdery mildew) and the
• phylloxera louse.

Phylloxera initially ravaged 7,000 hectares that eventually grew to about 11,000 hectares and the only solution was to graft the European vines onto American rootstock. In August 1914, Germany and Austria went to war and instead of becoming a world power, it lost thousands of good men and in Treaty of Saint-Germain had it’s country reduced in size and importance which only goes to show that war seldom

achieves anything. It was fine as far as wine went because when the Austrians put their lofty ideals to bed, they concentrated on tourism and tourists streamed into the country and fell in love with the both the quaint heurigers and to drink the Austrian wine. The reputation of Austrian wine speaks for itself and the Austrian wines consistently impress at wine fairs and presentation.