Wine

Burgenland yielded significantly higher amounts of wine than in 2019 due to more favorable weather conditions (+9%); the wine production in Lower Austria (+2%) and Vienna (+3%) increased whereas in Styria a slight decrease was observed (-1%). Concerning the wine products, the amount of "Qualitätswein/Prädikatswein" rose to 2.21 million hl (+4% to 2019) and the quantity of "Wein/Landwein" decreased to 151 400 hl (-1% to 2019).

Winestock 2020

According to the wine stock survey 2020, a stock of 2.93 million hl (-2% to 2019) of wine products was noted. The volume of stored white wines (1.72 million hl) remained at the same level as in 2019 (±0%) whereas the stock of red wines (1.21 million hl; -4%) decreased. The capacity of "Qualitätswein/Prädikatswein" decreased to 2.35 million hl (-3% to 2019) and the stock of "Wein/Landwein" increased to 313 200 hl (+6% to 2019)

Basic survey of areas under vine 2020

Regulation (EU) 1337/2011 requires Austria to conduct a statistical survey of areas under vines every five years. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism (BMLRT) implemented this regulation nationally by adopting Federal Law Gazette II Nr. 182/2020 (available in German only), regarding statistics concerning the areas under vines in 2020 (Weingartengrunderhebungsverordnung 2020). Thus, following the 2015 survey, a basic survey of areas under vines was conducted with the reference date 31 July 2020.

The wine-ONLINE system of the BMLRT - managed by the Land-, forst- und wasserwirtschaftlichen Rechenzentrum (LFRZ), served as data source for the wine-producing federal states of Burgenland, Lower Austria, Styria and Vienna. Data for the federal state of Carinthia was obtained from the federal viticulture cadaster. Statistics Austria collected the data for the remaining federal states of Upper Austria, Salzburg, Tyrol and Vorarlberg by means of a written questionnaire to the farmers. Data was electronically transmitted and, after completion of plausibility checks, analysed.

For the whole of Austria, results showed a total area under vines of 46 165 ha, corresponding to an increase of 726 ha or 2% since the last survey in 2015. Whereas the area in Burgenland was reduced with 2.1%, other federal states reported area growth: Lower Austria +1.4%, Styria +9.4%, Vienna +14.8% and the remaining federal states combined, +71.4%.

Lower Austria remains the largest wine producing federal state with 28 543 ha or 61.8%, followed by Burgenland 11 986 ha (26%), Styria with 4 729 ha (10.2%), Vienna with 667 ha (1.5%) and the remaining federal states with 239 ha (0.5%).

The survey results furthermore confirmed the trend break from 2015 that there is no longer a move from white wine to red wine: while white wine acreage increased by 4.1% to 31 752 ha since 2015, red wine acreage decreased with 3.5% to 14 412 ha during the same time period.

Grüner Veltliner remains the undisputed leader amongst the grape varieties, with 15 015 ha or a share of 47.3% of the total white wine area. With an increase of 4.4%, Grüner Veltliner also showed the highest increase in area of all the varieties. In second place follows the red wine variety Zweigelt with 6 145 ha or 42.6% of the red wine area.

Considering the distribution of the grape varieties in the individual federal provinces, Grüner Veltliner lies significantly ahead within the white wine varieties in Burgenland (1 258 ha), Lower Austria (12 920 ha) and Vienna (171 ha) whereas in Styria the white wine variety Welschriesling (701 ha) and in the remaining federal provinces the white wine variety Weißer Riesling (18 ha) are leading the list. In regard to red wine varieties, Zweigelt ranks first in Lower Austria (3 521 ha) and Vienna (36 ha) while in Burgenland Blaufränkisch (2 632 ha), in Styria Blauer Wildbacher (432 ha) and in the remaining federal provinces the red vine variety Blauer Burgunder (10 ha) are the most important varieties.

Comparing the age of the vines, the age group of 10 to 29 years records the highest share of the area under cultivation (51.7%), followed by the age group 30 years and older with 31.4% and the age group 3 to 9 years with 12.6%. The age group under 3 years amounts to 4.3%. These new plantations are not productive yet and already represent with 1 950 ha a significant share of the area under cultivation.