23rd Styrian Wine Trophy

23rd Styrian Wine Trophy – everything is different this year!

Actually it should have been a rushing spring festival, but then there was the Corona shutdown, and 900 bottles of the best Styrian wine needed to wait almost three months before they were allowed to be tasted.

Now the time had finally come, and the finalists and winners of the 23rd Styrian Wine Trophy were chosen during a 3-day tasting session, which was again held in the presence of a notary. Despite the unusual circumstances, this year’s Wine Trophy was also able to present a novelty – for the first time, the prestigious trophy was also awarded in the category of sparkling wines.

36 finalists, i.e. 3 finalists in each of 12 categories, were chosen by tastings. The 12 winners were selected by a 12-member jury on the last afternoon.

On Friday 19 June, the awards ceremony took place at the Bad Gleichenberg Tourism Schools in a small setting and in compliance with all Corona regulations.

One or the other winery was also rewarded for its achievements with multiple nominations – for example, the Frauwallner winery, which leads the field with 2 awards out of 2 nominations, or the Schmölzer and Rossmann winery, which were each nominated in 2 categories.

The awards were handed over by the Vice President of the Chamber of Agriculture Maria Pein, Notary Valentina Herk, the Styrian Viticulture Director Werner Luttenberger, Tasting Director Martin Hartinger and headmaster of the school Peter Kospach.

“We are very pleased to announce the winners of the Styrian Wine Trophy 2019 today. Especially this year it is of great importance to support our winegrowers with advertising. Awards such as the Styrian Wine Trophy are an important quality criterion that influences the purchasing decision of many wine enthusiasts. And it is a very special experience for our students, many of whom are undergoing training as young sommeliers,” says headmaster Peter Kospach.

The sought-after awards in the individual categories were given to the following vintners:

Schilcher 19: Schilcher Ried Krass DAC 2019, Winery Jauk, Pölfing Brunn

Welschriesling 19: Welschriesling DAC 2019, Winery Mahorko, Leutschach

Muskateller 19: Gelber Muskateller DAC 2019, Winery Grabin, Labuttendorf

Sauvignon Blanc 19: Sauvignon Blanc Schiefer DAC 2019, Winery Lambauer, Kitzeck

Weißburgunder 19: Weißburgunder DAC 2019, Viticulture Kremser vlg Greitbauer, Ligist

Morillon 19: Morillon DAC 2019, Winery Frauwallner, Straden

Matured Burgunder 18 and older: Morillon Straden DAC 2018, Winery Frauwallner, Straden

Matured Sauvignon Blancs 18 and older: Der Kater 2017, Winery Rauch, St. Peter/O.

Blauer Zweigelt 18 and older: Zweigelt Frauenberg 2017, Winery Wurzinger, Bad Gleichenberg

Red wine variety 18 and older: Blauer Wildbacher Barrique, Winery Adam, Leutschach

Sparkling wine: Gelber Muskateller, Family vineyard Trabos, Gamlitz

Traminer 19 and older: Niklas I. 2019, Semlitsch Naturprodukte, Klöch

In addition to the usual PR and marketing services around the event, video clips were produced especially for the winning wineries, which the winemakers could use for their own digital advertising.

The Styrian Wine Trophy took place for the 23rd time this year and is a proof of the long-standing close cooperation between the tourism schools of Bad Gleichen