Neusiedlersee DAC .. a few thoughts

I was invited to join fellow winemaker at the concept presentation for the soon to be in installed Neusiedlersee DAC. I took some notes and worte some emails afterwards on some points of this concept regarding minimum!! alcohol levels, presentation dates and the composition of the blend for the Reserve category. But have a look at my notes!

Neusiedlersee DAC presentation - January 16th, 2012

Two different wines will represent the region Neusiedlersee in the future. They will be the only wines allowed to carry the name Neusiedlersee. Till now on the behalf of the Austrian wine law all Quality wines produced within the region Neusiedlersee were allowed to carry Neusiedlersee on the label.

The new wines will need to meet some criteria to be a typical Neusiedlersee or Neusiedlersee Classic. This criteria are:

for Neusiedlersee DAC Classic:

ZW inkl. 15% other varieties,

single vintage

Alc. 12,5% avc minimum

Max 4 g RS

Maturation in stainless steel of big barrels

to hit the shelves not before the 1st March in the year following the harvest

Min 6 Euro

and for Neusiedlersee DAC:

same as above but

Alcohol min 13% abv

Maturation in big barrels of barriques

to hit the shelves not before the 1st September in the year following the harvest

12 Euro minimum

150 euro annual fee and stickers for bottles

1-5000 pcs -  12 Euro Cent

5001-15000 pcs -   9 Euro Cent

15001- and more - 6 Euro Cent

Quality assurance

Austrian Approval number (like all other quality wines) and own regional blind tasting of a special DAC tasting team (Heads of Quality assurance: Mr. Anton Palkowitsch, Mr. Harald Scheiblhofer).