Austria: Geography, geology, and climate

niederösterreich, steiermark (Styria), and burgenland are the three Austrian states that incorporate all but a tiny morsel of Austrian vineyard. Along a roughly 100 km/62 mile, almost continuously planted stretch of the Danube’s left and occasionally right bank upstream of Vienna and north all the way to the Czech frontier, lie those regions of Niederösterreich known for their Grüner Veltliner and Riesling. And while the latter enjoys less than a 5% share of acreage, it not only makes up for this in notoriety and price, it also serves as a useful climatic touchstone. This part of Austria is where Riesling feels at home: cool enough, but dry—like the Vosges rainshadow of alsace. Another feature common to most of this sector—which incorporates the growing regions of Wachau, kamptal, kremstal, traisental, wagram, and weinviertel—is wide, regular diurnal temperature variation (see temperature variability). Austrian descriptions of some Niederösterreich vineyard soils may refer to Urgestein, usually translated as ‘primary rock’, a term and a concept long obsolete in geology. It is used in Austria for relatively old, tough rocks such as granite and gneiss, which contrast with younger, softer materials such as loess (also common) and alluvium.