Pre-gaming: The Wines of Austria - Tasting at the Washington DC Wine and Cheese Seminar, led by Annette Schiller, ombiasy WineTours, 2023

Annette Schiller, ombiasy WineTours, led a tasting of "The Wines of Austria" at the Washington DC Wine and Cheese Seminar on February 28, 2023.

Tasting these 5 wines from all over Austria was kind of pre-gaming: Annette will lead a Wine & Culture Tour to Austria by ombiasy WineTours from May 28 to June 08, 2023.  

In preparation of this tour, Annette and I just returned from a week-long trip to Austria.

See:Checking, Fine-tuning, Researching, Pre-gaming in Austria in February 2023 - Wine & Culture Tour to Austria by ombiasy WineTours: May 28 - June 08, 2023

Invitation

This Tuesday we are fortunate to have Annette Schiller who will present five Austrian wines. Annette has just recently returned from Austria where she visited many of these wonderful wine regions.

Annette Schiller has been involved in wine for more than 30 years. An economist and event manager by training, she also took classes on viticulture at the University in Mainz, Germany, and later at the Community College in Wiesbaden, and at the Geisenheim enological school, Germany. For many years she lived and worked in Germany and France, and her focus shifted to the wines of those countries. 

Annette is the owner of Ombiasy PR & Wine Tours. Since 2011 she has organized and personally led tours to the French wine regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhône, Alsace, to all thirteen wine regions in Germany as well as to the wine regions in Austria. Annette is very active in organizing tastings and wine pairing dinners, and in conducting wine classes in the US, and in her native Germany. 

Small but beautiful - that is Austrian viticulture in an international comparison. Austria is a stunningly beautiful country and so are the wines. Austria is, with France, Italy, Spain, and Germany, considered one of the best wine-growing countries in Europe. Austrian wine does one thing better than a lot of other wines: expresses history, site, climate and vintage. In this exciting tasting, you’ll have the chance to experience some of Austria’s most distinctive wine regions as you sample five delicious wines made from grape varieties deeply rooted in Austria’s viticultural history. 

This Tuesday we take a tasting tour through Austria’s most prestigious wine regions. We start in beautiful Wachau that sits on the banks of the Danube river and will have two different Grüner Veltliner from the same winemaker to experience the difference in taste as we move up the quality ladder. Then we travel to the southernmost Austrian wine region, the Steiermark. Here we are in a true alpine region where Sauvignon Blanc grapes grow on extremely steep slopes giving us crispy, beautiful wines. From here we travel north-east to the Pannonian plain towards the border with Hungary, to the Burgenland wine region. We will learn about two distinctively Austrian red wine grape varieties: Zweigelt and Blaufränkisch. 

We will have bread and two cheeses from Calvert Woodley. The cheeses will be an Iberico sheep’s milk cheese from Spain and a Morbier cow’s milk cheese from France. All this for $25. Please come and enjoy.  

Washington DC Wine and Cheese Seminar

The Seminar meets at 7:45PM every Tuesday (except for July, August and the weeks of December 25th and January 1st) at St. Patricks Episcopal Church at 4700 Whitehaven Pky, between Foxhall Road and MacArthur Blvd. No reservations are required. 

The Wines

Annette poured 5 wines: Entry-level and ultra-premium Grüner Veltliner, Sauvignon Blanc, Zweigelt and  Blaufränkisch.

The wines we all bought at Chain Bridge Cellars in McLean, Virginia.

All 5 wines are part of Klaus Wittauer's kw.selection.

The Tasting

The tasting always starts at 7:45pm and ends at 9:30pm. 

Annette provided introductory remarks for aabout 15 minutes.

Wine & Culture Tour to Austria by ombiasy WineTours: May 28 - June 08, 2023