Under gloomy skies we set off from Vienna to Burgenland, one of the most important wine-growing regions in Austria. Burgenland is known for producing great red wines especially from Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt grapes, but our primary quest this day was to learn about some of the great sweet wines of the world, including those from Weinlaubenhof Kracher in Illmitz and Weingut Peter Schandl in the historic town of Rust.

Illmitz and Rust both lie on the shores of a great shallow lake, Lake Neusiedl (Neusiedlersee), the benefit of which for sweet wine producers is a profound humidity. This humidity lends itself well to the occurrence of the Botrytis fungus (Botrytis cinerea), also known as “noble rot”. Botrytis has the effect of dehydrating the grapes, thus concentrating their sweetness and flavor and adding a characteristic honey note to the taste.

Despite their shared location on Neusiedlersee, Illmitz on the eastern side and Rust on the western side, these two towns and the wineries we chose are quite different in their temperaments and natures.

Weinlaubenhof Kracher in Illmitz is a thoroughly modern enterprise, and indeed the tradition of great winemaking at Kracher dates back just a couple of generations to the patriarch Alois Kracher Sr, and beginning in 1986 to Alois Kracher Jr. who established a worldwide reputation for the winery, and some say, for Austrian wines themselves.

Rust, once a city in the kingdom of Hungary, has been renowned as a wine producer since at least the year 1524, in which it was granted the right to mark the corks of its wine barrels with a distinctive “R” mark. Weingut Peter Schandl, now under the direction of Paul Schandl, traces its beginnings to the year 1741. Paul Schandl is also one of the founding members of the “Cercle Ruster Ausbruch”, an organization which safeguards the heritage of their famous Ruster Ausbruch wine.

Next, details of the visit to Weinlaubenhof Kracher.