The Veltlinerland Wine Route

Last updated on April 8th, 2020 at 06:49 am

The Veltlinerland region of Lower Austria is a landscape of gentle hills and lush vineyards, traditional farming villages and modern wineries – a place where people work to the rhythm of nature.

Part of the Weinviertel, the home of the Veltliner grape is a vital part of the Austrian wine-producing sector. The Weinviertel itself is the largest wine-producing region in the country and the Veltliner area makes up a third of that.

The Weinviertel Veltlinerland wine route winds its way through the region’s best vineyards over nearly 170 kilometres.

It combines well-known and quiet treasures, such as the historic wine town of Poysdorf, which with its Vino Versum museum is probably the tourist centre of the Veltlinerland.

The northern border of the Weinviertel with Moravia is marked by the limestone cliffs of Staatz and Falkenstein, which create excellent conditions for fruity, mineral wines.

The calcareous loess soils of the village of Herrnbaumgarten, with its Museum of Nonsense, produce unique storable Grüner Veltliner. Schrattenberg, in turn, is a natural home for distinctive red wines because of its basin location.

The Wine Route stretches from the water-rich area around Laa with its popular thermal baths to the Zistersdorf nestling against the Steinberg and the cultural town of Mistelbach.

The Buschberg in the Leiser mountains is the highest mountain of the Weinviertel (491 metres) and from here visitors can enjoy a wonderful view over the Veltlinerland.

Weinviertel DAC

With more than 13,000 hectares of vineyards, the Weinviertel is the largest wine-growing region in Austria. The Grüner Veltliner thrives in the rich loamy soil and the cold winters and warm summers with over 1800 hours of sunshine allow the grapes to ripen to their full sweetness.

“Da Grüne” – as the locals affectionately call it – has found its typical expression in the Weinviertel DAC: a Grüner Veltliner must be dry, shine bright to green-yellow and have the famous peppery spice, the Pfefferl. Only then does it deserve the designation of origin “Weinviertel DAC” (Districtus Austriae Controllatus).

Beyond the green

Sometimes, however, the people of the Weinviertel like to taste a different tipple than Grüner Veltliner. And so it is a good thing that, in addition to the popular Grüner, Welschriesling, Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay are also pressed in the area, along with fruity red wines such as Zweigelt or Blauer Portugieser in the eastern Weinviertel.

More information: www.veltlinerland.at