As early as the mid-1990s, there was a lot of criticism at home and abroad regarding the legibility of Austrian wine labels. The sugar pyramid, which determines the quality levels of the wine, was hardly understandable for the consumers. The large wine-growing countries in Europe, such as Italy, Spain and France, made it easier for consumers to understand the differences in quality with their Romance system of origin. It is not the sugar content of the grape juice that counts there, but the origin. In a nutshell: the best wine is the one with the smallest geographical designation of origin from precisely defined locations.
For us, the wine law amendment of 2002 was the time: The DAC designation of origin was introduced for the first time and the regional wine committee Weinviertel also implemented this system with this vintage. Districtus Austriae Controllatus (DAC) therefore means nothing more than controlled origin.
In the case of the largest specific wine-growing region in Austria, it was decided to use this designation exclusively for the leading variety Grüner Veltliner. And that should prove to be an absolute success story over the years. Weinviertel DAC stands for Grüner Veltliner with its typical taste of origin: fresh, fruity, spicy with the typical “Veltliner pepper”.
On top of that, the designation DAC Reserve was used for the higher qualities, which has now been expanded to include the Great Reserve, as the top of the quality pyramid. The latter must be stored in the cellar for at least a year before it can be submitted for quality classification. In summary, the DAC Klassik is the light to full-bodied original wine, the DAC Reserve is the strong representative and the DAC Reserve is the well-matured, strong flagship from the largest wine-growing region.
For the 20th DAC anniversary, the sommeliers of the OÖ Nachrichten are therefore dedicating the July wine page exclusively to the wines from the area from Retz via Falkenstein and Poysdorf to the border of the federal capital.
Source: Nachrichten
