Austrian Annual Tasting in London - Go Austria!

It would definitely seem so judging by the calibre of top trade buyers who attended: Sally Easton MW, Berry Bros; Alex Ignatieff, Harvey Nichols; Bill Baker, Reid Wines; Juliet Bruce Jones MW, The Wine Society, Annette Duce, Heyman, Barwell Jones; and Emma Bolger of Oddbins to pick out a handful.

Sally Easton MW notes, "The level of interest in Austrian wines in the UK was evident at the recent trade tasting, where space to taste was at a premium given the high number of visitors".

Restaurant and hotel buyers also turned out in force, with the following big names attending: Kate Thal, The Hartford Group; Loïc Mallet, Aurora at the Great Eastern Hotel; Filippo Giacometti, Mosimann's; Charbonnel J Baptiste, Orrery Restaurant; Rafa Bellido, Oxo Tower Restaurant and Virginie Routis of Chez Nico at Ninety; David Harvey, Cliveden; Thomas Heimann, The Savoy River Restaurant; Elio Folino, The Dorchester to name a few.

There was a great atmosphere as the two hundred or so tasters worked their way through the marathon three hundred wines, soothed by the backdrop of musicians playing Haydn, Mozart, Mislivicek and Pichl.

The quality and individuality of Austria's wines are second to none, and most left the tasting inspired, not least Serena Sutcliffe MW:
"It's amazing to come to a tasting with such a high proportion of fabulous wines," she enthused as she left for the day.

Austria's greats were all on show. All Austria's wine styles and regions were extremely well covered from the world class dry whites of Lower Austria and Styria to the fabulous Burgenland reds to the Sauternes-beating sweet wines from around the Neusiedlersee.

"It has been a long, determined struggle, but we can now say without a doubt that finally the U.K. trade recognises Austria as a producer of world-class, individual wines," said Bertold Salomon director of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board in Vienna.