Austrian Sekt gets a new 3 tier system

The Day of Austrian Sekt 2015 brought with it a cause for celebration. The three levels of the Austrian Sekt quality-pyramid are to be henceforth identified with the designations Klassik, Reserve and Große Reserve (Grand Reserve). With this comes not only the guarantee that in purchasing an Austrian Sekt with protected designation of origin the consumer is receiving a wine with a documented pedigree, but also official assurance that the most stringent standards have been observed during production. In this process, the level of quality will be raised appreciably. And if Austria’s wines have attracted more and more international attention in the last couple decades by virtue of their typicity and distinctive nature, Sekt from Austria has set itself a steady course that promises continued success in the future.

After concluding a two-year process of quality calibrations, Austria’s Sekt producers have agreed on a stringent regulatory code,no easy fix, since it was necessary to acknowledge the interests of the big Sekt houses as well as those of individual, small artisanal producers. A new legal basis for high-quality Austrian Sekt analogous to that of Qualitätswein has been created by the Austrian Sekt Commission and a committee of Sekt-producing wine-growers, working together with the Austrian Wine Marketing Board, experts of the Chambers of Industry and Commerce and experts from the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture. Out of the former floodtide of undistinguished sparkling wine has evolved Austrian Sekt with Protected Provenance. These are wines capable of telling the tale of their origins, regardless of whether they are stamped with the freshness of Poysdorf or the minerality of Langelois, the Pannonian depth of Gols or the vivid aromatics of Gamlitz – there are distinctive sparkling characters to be found in all of Austria’s wine-growing regions. And Sekt is ready to launch itself upon a great career.

Read more about it here 

(Excerpt from a press release)