Austria’s ‘Ruster Ausbruch’ given DAC status

The wines produced the Austrian city of Rust have been given the country’s first designation of origin certification dedicated to noble sweet wines.

The sweet wines known as ‘Ruster Ausbruch’ have been given their own Districtus Austriae Controllatus (DAC) designation, the first given exclusively for sweet wines and bringing the total DAC in the country to 16.

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

Under the terms of the DAC, a wine must satisfy the requirements for being a Trockenbeerenauslese with a minimum must weight of 30° KMW, must be made from one or more white varieties designated as ‘Qualitätswein’, and be hand harvested in the city of Rust where the wine must also be vilified and bottled.

In addition to this new DAC designation, there have been some amendments to existing DAC as well. 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.

An additional designation of origin ‘Seewinkel’ 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.