Steiermark

In an effort to shed some light on how I study for WSET Diploma Course’s D3 exam, Le Club des Vins is running a series of posts covering wine regions. Today’s topic: Steiermark

📍 Location

Steiermark is located in the south east of Austria, bordering Slovenia.⠀

In a nutshell

Austria
Mediterranean climate
3 DAC’s in Steiermark
Mostly whites, known for sauv blanc

☁️ Climate

Unlike the rest of Austria, the climate of Steiermark is Mediterranean, although there are some continental influences as winters are still quite cold and rainfall can be high throughout the year.

🌋 Soils

There are three DAC (Austria’s version of AOC) in Steiermark. Südsteiermark is the biggest producing subregion and is renowned for its rocky limestone and clay soils. Aromatic varieties like traminer and sauv blanc do well here. Vulkanland Steiermark has a volcanic basalt soil with sand and loam. Weststeiermark with its gneiss and shale soil, also known as Schilcherland, is known for two specialties: a racy but fruit-forward Schilcher Rosé and big, bold red wines – both from blauer wildbacher

🍇 Grapes & styles

It’s mostly welschriesling, sauvignon blanc, grauburgunder, weissburgunder, traminer, gewurztraminer. The region is known for its sauvignon blancs. Also, there’s a significant planting of morillon, which is a local synonym for chardonnay 😉 For red, the region produces wine from the well-known Austrian grapes like St Laurent and Zweigelt and also has plantings of blauer wildbacher (local specialty) and pinot noir.

💡 Something you didn’t know (did you?)

Well-known producers from Steiermark include Wohlmuth, Sabathi and Sattlerhof. If you know others, please do share them in the comments!

Your turn now

I always put a new region on instagram first. If you have any additions or comments on a region, please do share. You can drop a comment on instagram or on the website – see below. Your help is much appreciated!