CITY GUIDE >Culture and Events
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CITY GUIDE >Culture and Events
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Austrian wine competes with best Europe has to offer
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-03 09:35 The people of Austria's Burgenland region like to consider their part of the world one of culinary delights. After spending some time there, most people would be hard pressed to contradict them.
When vintner Ernst Triebaumer opens an ancient bottle of wine made with furmint grapes at his vineyards in the hilly country around Neusiedler Lake, he's met with the bouquet that, to him, represents the region's newly discovered self-confidence as Austria's leading wine region. His cousin, Richard Triebaumer has already prepared a meal: summer vegetables marinated in muscatel vinegar, olive lard and liver pate from a Mangalitsan pig. "We used to be the hicks of Austria," says Triebaumer. "At least when it comes to wine, people are making fewer jokes about us." This small stretch of land southeast of Vienna is becoming a new trendy part of Austria, eager to show off what it's got. It's greatest treasure is the region around Neusiedler Lake. The lake's marshy areas shelter rare animals and plants, creating a unique micro-ecosystem, which contributes to wine production. Long gone are the days when names like Kracher equaled sweet wines, Gesellmann meant basic red wines and Velich meant white chardonnay. Now a new generation of often younger vintners is stealing the spotlight and focusing on varieties like blaufrankisch and zweigelt. |
