Being put in front of 561 Austrian wines is no joke—even less of a joke is going through them in just five days. It’s September 2025 and I find myself at my first Austrian Traditional Estates (ÖTW, Österreichische Traditionsweingüter) the Single Vineyard Summit.

I came to take a look at what can be easily considered the most grandiose wine development of modern wine world—an almost real-time building up of a vineyard-driven classification system that takes place right there, in the heart of Europe.

Single vineyards, conceptually

Austria’s single vineyard legislation is new in law but old in practice. In 2023 the government introduced a national framework that allows wine regions to classify their best “Rieds” (vineyards) as Erste Lage and eventually Große Lage (or Grosse Lage, the way I normally write it). This sits on top of the existing DAC (DACs are Austrian controlled wine regions, also called “appellations” wordwide) origin pyramid—regional wines, village wines, and single-vineyard wines—and gives the terms Erste and Grosse Lage legal protection across the country. The move was designed to unify what had previously been private, voluntary initiatives into one system that is binding and recognizable for wine drinkers. I hesitate to call them “consumers”, since this world implies mass-market and low wine knowledge. I am a consumer too!

Where was I? Ok, so those private terroir initiatives came first. In the Danube regions, the Österreichische Traditionsweingüter (ÖTW) spent three decades mapping and tasting sites, publishing their own Erste Lage list and gradually expanding it to Vienna, Carnuntum, Thermenregion and others. In Styria, the STK group did something similar with its “Erste STK Lage” and “Grosse STK Lage.” Both associations effectively piloted how a classification might work, look and “feel”. But the new 2023 Austrian-wide official Decree doesn’t automatically adopt their “Rieds” lists; each region must now submit its vineyards for official recognition under the national rules.

At present and broadly speaking, only Erste Lage will appear on labels, and only after each DAC region completes its evaluation. A vineyard must hold Erste Lage status for at least five years before it can even be considered for elevation to Grosse Lage, so the first official “grand cru” equivalents are still several years away. The procedure involves documenting a site’s homogeneity of soil and climate, its historical reputation, performance across vintages, and then imposing stricter production rules: lower yields, hand harvesting, and DAC “typicity”, whatever it means.

The ÖTW roots

The Österreichische Traditionsweingüter—mercifully shortened to ÖTW—started in 1991 as a handful of growers from Kamptal and Kremstal who decided that Austria’s wines needed a vocabulary beyond sugar levels and alcohol charts. At the time, the country was still stuck in the so-called “sugar pyramid,” a system that ranked wines by ripeness of grapes rather than where they actually grew. The ÖTW’s founders—characters like Willi Bründlmayer, who had spent time in Burgundy and come home with ideas—wanted to shift the conversation from chemistry to geography, from lab numbers to landscapes. Their plan was straightforward if a little audacious: classify vineyards, not wines, and prove that provenance was what really mattered—not must weight or sugar levels.

Unlike the many marketing clubs that popped up in Austria—most of them little more than wine brands in search of a logo—the ÖTW aimed higher. They styled themselves less as a cartel of neighbors selling wine under a cute name, more as a long game for the whole country: build the evidence, set the example, and eventually hand the framework over to national wine law mentioned above. In other words, a self-appointed test lab for an Austrian cru system.

It took nearly two decades of tastings, maps, and committee work before their “Erste Lage” (kind of Premier Cru in French appellations system) logo appeared on bottles in 2010. By then, the group had spread beyond its Kamptal roots, drawing in estates from Vienna, Carnuntum, and Thermenregion. And whether you see them as pioneers or as a very patient lobby, the fact remains: without ÖTW, Austria’s new state-sanctioned single-vineyard hierarchy could look quite differently.

Sitting down with Michael Moosbrugger

The current ÖTW chairman Michael Moosbrugger’s modesty doesn’t seem to be on par with the enormous task ahead of him (and other 90+ members) behind the Single Vineyard classification developments. This undertaking presents the rarest opportunity for us to be witnesses of the birth of the phenomenon that can potentially influence the Austrian wines’ image for years, decades and quite possibly, hundreds of years.

The force behind the Single Vineyard Summit is ÖTW, a gathering of Austrian wineries pushing multi-factor vineyards classification set to eventually help Austrian wines be more intriguing, discoverable and—not in the least— taking better market positions. Besides being the association chair, Moosbrugger himself manages one of the best estates in Austria—Schloss Gobelsburg in Kamptal.

The unique feature of the ÖTW Single Vineyard Summits is that it’s influencing how the vineyard classification system is formed. “Behind the curtains”, so to speak, ÖTW must be implementing a complex formula of balanced and weighted factors that play into the importance of specific vineyards. Of course, I cannot know this for sure. It’s also quite likely that while the formula exists, its results must be human verified or tested as some classification factors are not exactly quantifiable or subjective. What used to be medals of the Paris Exhibition in 1855 is today’s endless rows of numbers in an Excel spreadsheet of someone who sat through a week of tastings putting the teeth on the line and sacrificing one’s precious enamel for the sake of Austrian Rieds, meaning single vineyards.

The story behind the Single Vineyard Summits

Still the history of the tastings seen by Michael Moosbrugger, carry a very pragmatic role for wine professionals—to come and taste a lot of wines in a very limited amount of time. “We started slowly and only with the wines of Kremstal, Kamptal, Treisental and Wagram”, —he says. “What changed is, first of all, the level of professionalism. Secondly the sheer volume of wines that can be tasted. And then, of course, we’ve been in several different locations.”

Speaking about how the tastings started he recalls: “Of course, we started very small in the castle over there, in a corner room with just 15-20 people. Over the years we developed to the most significant tasting for wines of origin in Austria. The image of the place also changed dramatically. The event was always designed as a working place for professionals—for people who are short on time and need to be efficient. And this is one of the great benefits of Schloss Grafenegg.” The buildings around this castle hold the Single Vineyard Summit tastings since 1996.

I ask Michael about the fact the shown here are only the latest vintages, that, basically makes it what in Italy would be called Anteprima—fresh wines showcase. Evening parties and informal dinners is where the old vintages and beautifully cold magnums are opened. Not everyone can focus in such a setting, though.

Terroirs in motion

To actually take the results of such a huge tasting of several dozens experts from around the world and convert it into a system that will be viable ÖTW, quite obviously, must conform the individual rating systems into something universal weighted against the way each taster judges wines (does a taster tend to rate wines in a broad range or in a narrow one, does they use 20-points system or 100-points, or, in fact, a 5-star system). In other words, ÖTW has to understand the individual scoring solely based on the numbers the taster provided and the wines tasted. Moosbrugger goes on: “We are not interested in the absolute values of a vineyard’s features. We are analyzing the results according to each vineyard in how it is seen in relation to the others. We are just interested in the relative position of the taster’s scoring.”

Importantly, individual wines aren’t what actually matters to the vineyard’s “rating” or position in the ÖTW classification. They are synthesized into a much bigger picture and are influencing the results of the classification as a total. How exactly? We don’t actually know.

While this forming system is unique, there are no patents involved in building the vineyards classification. As per Michael Moosbrugger everyone’s free to use it, if they want. This doesn’t seem to bother him: developing and implementing such vast evaluations is a complex endeavor and requires a strong vision and a serious leadership from winemakers across many subregions, and, of course, it demands the historical single vineyard context that would serve as a natural basis for the developing vineyard classification.

“Most people don’t actually understand what a classification is. A lot of them still look at it as a classification of quality of or the “potential” of a vineyard. It’s not the case. The problem in these approaches is that the moment you’re trying to consider the quality of a vineyard, you would have to define what “quality” is. And at that point you fail. We, on the other hand, are defining significance or relevance, a different thing. It’s not a question of how steep a vineyard is, but, rather, of how consistent it is,”—Michael continues.

I am curious about how the ÖTW classification—with all its complexities—will sit with us, wine consumers. The debate is not over by any means and only time will be the measure of success. There’s wine consumer and there’s wine consumer, meaning they are all different. Still, ÖTW classification as a wine, or, more so, terroir marketing tool is clearly not something that hasn’t been thought about extensively. Where’s that threshold of keeping drinkers engaged and thirsty to discover new wines or find the ones they love and simply stick to them, become wine collectors ready to follow not just wineries or wines, but specific Rieds, single vineyards?

To me this complexity resembles Portuguese field blends—when some wines can consist of tens of grape varieties from mixed vineyards—and still capture the attention and teach to appreciate the blend and…the place where it is born. Single varietals are seemingly easier to follow for drinkers en masse, but complex blends require a different attitude, an effort to switch mindsets, otherwise people get lost and scared off by the sheer number of uneasy names.

Come the full ÖTW classification with all the tiers available for evaluation and following (the top Grosse Lagen tier is still to come), the pros, “nerds” and enthusiasts will certainly deep-dive into their intricacies, but what about the others? Will the following be wide-spread enough to form a stable and future-proof “sales pitch” for the Ried producers of ÖTW? Will specific Rieds successfully convey their individual characters or will be splitting hairs trying to get through tens and hundreds of wines that smell white flowers, peaches, and citrus?

Perplexity vs complexity

Michael shares his vision: “I personally believe that if the consumer has no deeper interest in wine, he probably will use the system of grape varieties. We, on the other hand, are addressing people who understood that the concept of grape varieties also has its limitations.” Per Moosbrugger, a balanced appellation system reflects in producer’s lineup of wines: “If an appellation system is not well-designed, you’re ending up with twenty different wines and maybe two wines of the appellation. This indicates that the appellation system is not meeting the needs of the producer. With effective appellation system from twenty wines fifteen will be appellation wines and maybe five—something else.”

So what are we to expect in the future? The top Grosse Lage vineyards are intended to be not more than 5% of ÖTW vineyards. The vineyards and wines of Erste Lage category are what the experts have been tasting extensively for several years now, the Grosse Lage vineyards are not officially there yet and will not be for some more years. Unfortunately for us. A total of 145 official ÖTW.ERSTE LAGE vineyards exist as of September 2025.

The concept of Grosse Lage was always part of the ÖTW’s plan, but deliberately postponed as a “long-distance goal.” In today’s fast-paced, short-term oriented world this deserves respect. A site had to first prove itself as Erste Lage over multiple years before elevation was even considered—this is happening today, when we taste Erstes Lagen wines, in the future some of those will be renamed to Grosses Lagen. This cautious, layered approach means that the classification should never become a free-for-all marketing tool, but an evidence-based process that links vineyards to their performance across time.

And to that I’ll drink!