Austria grants first DOC for sweet wine to city of Rust

The wines made by the Austrian city of Rust have just been granted the country’s first desgination of origin certification for  its noble sweet wines.  

Known as Ruster Ausbruch, the wines have been awarded their own Districutus Austriae Controllatus (DAS) designation, the first given exclusively for sweet wines, bringing  the total DAC in Austria to 16.  

“Ruster Ausbruch is a unique and distinctive part of our Austrian heritage,” said Wines of Austria’s CEO Chris Yorke. “ The fact that it has now been legally protected by the DAC regulations is an important step on our way to protecting regionally typical wines.”  

To qualify under the conditions of the DAC a wine must satisfy the requirements for being a Trockenbeerenauslese with a minimum must weight of 30° KMW, must be produced from at least one white varietal designated as Qualitätswein and be hand harvested in the city of Rust where the wine must also be vinified and bottled.   I

n addition to this new DAC designation, there have been some amendments to the existing DAC. For example, dry Blaufränkisch, Weissburgunder, Chardonnay, Neuburger and Grüner Veltliner (as single varietal wines or blends) can now be bottled as DAC Leithaberg. In addition, white Spätlese and Auslese wines can be labelled as DAC Neusiedlersee, while the DAC Neusiedlersee Reserve can be applied to Beerenauslese and TBA wines.

Seewinkel, an additional designation of origin, is allowed for those grapes harvested in the vicinities of Apetlon, Illmitz and Podersdorf due to these areas’ tradition and “prominent stature” when it comes to sweet wine production.