Who decides what constitutes an Erste Lage?

Why a wine’s price does not reflect its terroir.

In Austria, these conditions do not exist in this form, or only partially. Until the Second World War, the Austrian wine trade and self-marketing wineries – or rather, the sale of Austrian wine – were characterised by origin and marketing based on origin. After the war, however, they underwent a development that led to a shift from the mixed vineyards that were common at the time to single-varietal plantings. The resulting consequence was that, over a period of several decades, Austrian wines were predominantly marketed using specific grape variety names. In the late 1980s, particularly in the Danube region around Krems, the issue of provenance was once again given greater priority by top winemakers. By this time, the trade and sales structures had already undergone fundamental changes. Under the prevailing marketing conditions, winegrowers generally did not sell the entire available quantity of wine from a vineyard under the respective vineyard name, but only a portion of that quantity. This can be explained by the winegrowers’ preference for listing a high price in the price list rather than placing the entire quantity on the market at a lower selling price. The traditional system of supply and demand therefore no longer applied.

A common misconception regarding vineyard classifications is the assumption that the classification assesses the quality or potential of a vineyard.

Assessing the quality of a vineyard proves to be a challenging task, one that is sometimes regarded as unsolvable. The problem stems from the impossibility of defining the quality (potential) of a vineyard. Attempts were made in the Rheingau to address this, but these must be regarded as having failed. The classifications established in France elegantly sidestepped this issue by ensuring that the judgement was not made by science, but by the market and by wine lovers who were willing to pay higher prices for specific wines from particular vineyards. The division into the various classes is therefore not based on the quality of the vineyard, but on its (market) significance in the context of its history and regional environment. Consequently, the ÖTW winegrowers came to the realisation that a fundamentally new system was required to assess the significance of vineyards in the context of their history and culture.

In a democratic society, the question arises as to how the significance of a vineyard can be objectively and transparently determined. Since wine prices cannot be used as the sole parameter for assessment, the ÖTW has developed a system that evaluates the significance of a vineyard on the basis of several criteria. The reasoning was that the significance of a vineyard could be examined on the basis of different questions and from various perspectives. The creation of a uniform system, taking into account the various parameters, was intended to form the basis for the development of an objective classification. The reasoning outlined above served as the basis for defining the criteria of relevance regarding the assessment of vineyard sites by the ÖTW.

How do you measure the importance of a vineyard?

CRITERIA FOR CONTENT RELEVANCE

• First historical mention of the vineyard site – Historical relevance
• Since when has the vineyard site been marketed as such? – Historical relevance
• Winemakers’ subjective assessment – Subjective relevance
• Collective assessment – Intersubjective relevance
• Homogeneity of the site’s geology – Substantive relevance
• Homogeneity of the site’s climate – Substantive relevance
• Homogeneity of the site’s aspect – Substantive relevance

ECONOMIC RELEVANCE CRITERIA

• Number of producers making a wine from the vineyard – Quantitative relevance
• Proportion of the vineyard used to produce a single-vineyard wine – Quantitative relevance
• Export representation – Distribution relevance
• Average market price – Economic relevance
• Price variation of wines on the market – Economic relevance

QUALITATIVE RELEVANCE CRITERIA

• Expert assessment of all wines from a single vineyard – Qualitative relevance
• Variation in expert assessments – Qualitative relevance
• Consistency over time (EXTERNAL) – Qualitative relevance
• Blind tasting by the winemakers – Qualitative relevance
• Variation in internal assessments – Qualitative relevance
• Consistency over time (INTERNAL) – Qualitative relevance

Although none of these factors is particularly meaningful when considered in isolation, when evaluated together in a multi-factor analysis, they paint a coherent picture that yields what is known as the ‘classification strength’. Once the analysis is complete, the sites are ranked according to the classification strength factor.