The wine-growing village in the Wachau wine-growing region in Lower Austria was mentioned as early as 1347 and is known as the "Pearl of the Wachau". The blue tower of the collegiate church is also a landmark of the Wachau. Dürnstein also became famous as the place where the English King Richard the Lionheart (1157-1199) was imprisoned. The cadastral municipality of Dürnstein also includes the communities of Oberloiben and Unterloiben, which together make up a vineyard area of around 200 hectares. The mostly very steeply terraced vineyards are located on the slopes of the left bank of the Danube.
White wines are produced to 90%, mainly from the varieties Riesling, Grüner Veltliner, Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay. Well-known vineyards (excluding those of Unterloiben and Oberloiben) are Heudürr, Höhereck, Hollerin, Kaiserberg (Subriede Lichtensteinerin), Kellerberg (Subrieden Wunderburg, Küss den Pfennig), Liebenberg, Pfaffenberg, Schlossberg, Schütt and Supperin. Flohhaxn, Himmelstiege and Katzensprung are old vineyards that no longer exist and are used as names for branded wines. Well-known producers include Alzinger, Bäuerl Wolfgang, members of the Domäne Wachau winegrowers' co-operative, Knoll Emmerich, Pichler Franz Xaver, Pichler-Krutzler, Schmidl Theresa, Schwarz Johann and Tegernseerhof.
![]()
Serious sources on the internet are rare - and Wine lexicon from wein.plus is one such source. When researching for my articles, I regularly consult the wein.plus encyclopaedia. There I get reliable and detailed information.
Thomas Götz
Weinberater, Weinblogger und Journalist; Schwendi