One of the eight specific wine-growing areas in the Austrian province or generic wine-growing region of Lower Austria. Viticulture was already practised here by the Celts before the birth of Christ. In the municipality of Stillfried, grape seeds of the cultivated vine Vitis vinifera were found and dated to 900 BC. This makes it one of the oldest wine-growing communities in Central Europe, along with Zagersdorf in Burgenland. The typical Weinviertel wine is named Brünnerstraßler after an old trade route from Vienna to Brno in the Czech Republic. The gently hilly area north of the Danube borders the Czech Republic in the north and stretches from the Manhartsberg in the west to the border with Slovakia in the east.
Wine-growing areas
The Weinviertel is not a closed area, however, but consists of many vineyard islands, some of them small. In former times it was divided into three areas. These were Falkenstein, Retz and Mailberg.
Falkenstein
The eastern area Falkenstein begins in the south near Vienna. The most important wine-growing communities with the best-known vineyards are Bisamberg (Gabrissen, Jungenberg, Wiesthalen), Bockfliess, Falkenstein (Alsen, Eckartsberg, Kreuzberg, Rabenstein, Rosenberg), Enzersfeld (Sandtal), Gänserndorf, Herrnbaumgarten, Katzelsdorf, Kleinhadersdorf (Birthal, Bockgärten, Hochenleiten), Korneuburg, Langenzersdorf, Mannersdorf, Matzen, Mistelbach, Münichsthal (Seewansche Lagen), Poysbrunn, Poysdorf (Bürsting, Hermannschachern, Kirchbergen, Saurüsseln, Weiße Bergen), Schrattenberg, Stetten (Haidviertel, Hundsleiten, Mitterviertel, Neuberg, Zeiseneck), Wetzelsdorf, Wolkersdorf and Zistersdorf.
Retz & Mailberg
The area to the west Retz extends from the municipality of Großriedenthal in the south to the namesake municipality of Retz in the north. The most important wine-growing communities are Eggenburg, Frauendorf, Haugsdorf, Hohenwarth-Mühlbach, Hollabrunn, Kleinhaugsdorf, Limberg, Maissau, Mühlbach am Manhartsberg, Ravelsbach, Retz with Oberretzbach, Mitterretzbach and Unterretzbach (Altenberg, Klafel, Satzen, Züngel), Röschitz, Ruppersthal, Schrattenthal, Sitzendorf and Ziersdorf. The vineyards of the Mailberg with the vineyard Hundschupfen form a very special climatic island.
Climate & Soils
The soil types are very different due to the very wide spread area, but loess, loam, primary rock and black earth soils dominate. The climate is continental, with a Pannonian influence only in the far east. The summers are predominantly hot and dry and the winters cold. The vineyards are situated between 200 and 250 metres above sea level. The best vineyards are in locations with a particularly favourable microclimate, these are Bisamberg, Falkenstein, Mailberg and Retz. In 2001, the "Weinviertel Wine Route" was founded to promote wine and cultural tourism. Over a length of more than 130 kilometres, 150 municipalities with more than 500 winegrowing enterprises are involved.
Grape variety list
In 2022, the vineyards covered a total of 13,911 hectares of vines. Compared to 2015 with 13,858 hectares, this was a reduction of 53 hectares (0.4%). The share of white wine varieties is 79%, the share of red wine varieties is 21%. The clearly dominant white wine variety Grüner Veltliner occupies half, which is why the area is also called "Veltliner-Land". It is followed by Zweigelt, Welschriesling, Riesling, Müller-Thurgau and Muskateller.
