Competition: New / innovative grape varieties

Largest PIWI competition in the German-speaking region!

Graz, July 2023

In the fifth year, the Austrian PIWI wine competition "New / innovative grape varieties" again brought an increase in the number of participating companies and registered wines. The top-class international jury was able to evaluate PIWI wines from all the important wine-growing federal states.

For the fifth time, the non-profit association "PIWI Austria" organized the wine competition "New / innovative grape varieties" for Austrian wines made from fungus-resistant grape varieties. 245 wines from 96 different wineries were registered for the jury tasting on July 20th! The largest domestic PIWI wine competition has meanwhile established itself as a fixed point in the wine year.

"The quality of the wines is amazing," were the words of the well-known Burgenland winemaker and juror Josef Umathum. This knowledge is proven by the increasing level of PIWI wines from year to year.

The grape varieties most frequently submitted were Muscaris, Souvignier gris and Donauriesling for the whites and Roesler and Cabernet Jura for the reds. This time, the sparkling and semi-sparkling wines as well as the natural and orange wines were also very well represented. The largest number of submissions (132) comes from Styria, followed by Lower Austria (78), Carinthia (17), Upper Austria (10), Burgenland (7) and Vorarlberg (1).

As in previous years, the venue for the jury tasting was the sensory room at the Haidegg research station in Graz. The jury of recognized local and international experts assessed according to the international 20-point scheme. Depending on the number of points, plaques in gold or silver will soon be issued. At least 10 submitted wines were required for the evaluation of a separate category.

The Presentation of the winning companies with their PIWI wines and the presentation of certificates and trophies will take place on September 7, 2023 at the Folklore Museum in Vienna (Gartenpalais Schönborn, Laudongasse 15-19) as part of a public tasting!

This year there are again SIEGERWEIN packages. These are from the Vinothek Styria marketed in Sankt Anna am Aigen.

I am at your disposal for further information:

Contact: Wolfgang Renner (Chairman PIWI Austria)
c/o experimental station for fruit and wine growing in Haidegg
Ragnitzstrasse 193, 8047 Graz
Tel. 0676 866 6 6614
wolfgang.renner@stmk.gv.at

More info as well as the List of award-winning wines can be found in the press release: