It seems Austria and Switzerland are sharing quite a lot this year.  On Sunday and Monday, the 30th and 31st of March, there will be a great opportunity to taste some of the finest Austrian and Swiss wines at the Kongresshaus in Zürich.  The tasting is open both days from 1pm until 7pm.  Registration is free, but you have to fill out a form first and send it in to gain entrance.

This large Austrian wine tasting event takes place each year in Zürich, but this year there is the added bonus of tasting some of Switzerland’s premier wines from producers which are not easily found…but definitely worth trying.

We recommend adopting one of the following four strategies to optimize your time and experience:  

Strategy One: If you have the time and energy, try to visit each region and sample the wines from one or two producers.  This strategy will provide you with a nice overview of Austrian wine.  It’s difficult to recommend a specific producer for each region, because there are so many good producers in Austria.  But if you would like to follow our lead, here’s a list of those we plan to visit: From Neusiedlersee: Achs, Lang, Pannonische Weingärtner, and Gernot und Heike Heinrich; From Neusiedlersee Hügelland: Feiler Artinger, Ernst Triebaumer and Schröck; From Kamptal: Bründelmayer and Schloss Gobelsburg; From Wachau: Domain Wachau and Hirtzberger; From Thermenregion: Johanneshof Reinisch; From Mittelburgenland: K+K Kirnbauer;  From Carnuntum: Franz und Christine Netzl;  From Südsteiermark: Skoff and Tement; From Weststeiermark : Franz und Christine Strohmeier;  From Südoststeiermark: Winkler-Hermaden;  From Wien: Wieninger.

From Swiss Producers: Baumann (Schaffhausen); Zündel and Huber (Tessin); Bovard (Waadt); Balisiers (Geneva); Germanier and Provins (Wallis); Mattmann and Tscharner (Graubünden); Schlossgut Bachtobel (Thurgau); Schwarzenbach (Zürich).

Strategy Two:  Pick one or two different wine regions and get to know as many of the producers as possible.  Who knows…perhaps you will want to spend some time in one of these regions?  A few ideas to think about would include hiking along the Danube River, which would favor the wine regions Wachau, Kremstal, Kamptal, Wagram, Vienna, and Carnuntum.  Another nice location is the entire region around the Neusiedlersee, which favors the regions Neusiedlersee, Neusiedlersee-Hügelland and Mittelburgenland.

Strategy Three: Another strategy (one we often employ in large wine tasting events) is to decide on one or two grape varieties, then try several examples of from different regions.  For a good overview of Austrian wines, consider Grüner Veltliner for white wines and Blaufränkisch for red wines.  It can be quite revealing to taste wines made from the same grape variety but from different regions.  There are also a few rare grape varieties to definitely try.  They would include Schilcher Wine from the Weststeiermark - a wine which you will rarely have a chance to taste; and other rare varieties Zierfandler, Rotgipfler, and Neuburger.

Strategy Four:  Disregard the first three strategies and just get discretely drunk while enjoying the wine and crowd.