VieVinum, tenth edition: the insights and the outlook...

Fresh ideas on the part of the organisers moulded a new profile for this year’s VieVinum, one that certainly did it credit. A new colour-coded routing scheme made for faultless orientation, so that it was possible to dispense with the wine producers’ own roll-up screens. The press centre migrated this year to an air-conditioned tent directly in front of the Hofburg, in order to provide more room inside the building for both exhibitors and visitors. The box office was relocated outside as well; thus the entire entrance hall could be utilised as presentation space. An outdoor food court provided our guests with widely varied culinary possibilities. Along with the some 450 Austrian estates on display, many diverse guest countries showcased their wines as well – Germany was particularly well represented this year.

Staff members of the AWMB had been preparing themselves for VieVinum with élan and team spirit since the beginning of the year, in order to organise hospitality management for 800 international guests and to meet the high expectations of trade and press visitors. The team went about their work with a great sense of motivation – and certainly, VieVinum figures as an absolute highlight in the course of the operational year.

And we are already looking forward to 2018! Because: 2018 brings with it the 20th anniversary of VieVinum – and we shall raise our glasses once more to toast the health of all exhibitors, visitors and wine producers. Until then, please save the dates: 9–11 June 2018.

The AWMB presented the following events, animating their guests’ enthusiasm for the wines of Austria:

Hospitality is written large in the culture of Austria – this is no secret. A Viennese Heuriger offered the appropriate and congenial setting in which we could wish a warm and stylish welcome to our guests from fortytwo different nations. The weather smiled upon us as well; conversation and conviviality flourished under the trees and under the stars until late in the evening.

The 30th birthday of the AWMB this year provided us with an appropriate occasion to grant ourselves a good long look into the archives of the SALON Österreich Wein. The SALON is the nation’s most demanding wine competition, held annually since 1988; it chooses and crowns Austria’s best wines from out of a total of 7,000 submitted nationwide. A historic selection of these prizewinning wines was offered within the framework of a seated tasting in the resplendent Landtagssaal of the Palais Niederösterreich in downtown Vienna.

Willi Klinger is occupied throughout the entire year with formulating observations concerning Austrian wine. To inaugurate VieVinum 2016 he let these flow into two talks, delivered on the morning of the fair’s first day, in which he spoke about Austrian wine, delineating “New Developments in Austria” and the “7 Elements of Uniqueness” for an audience of interested listeners.