Cobenzl awarded Vienna Wine Prize

Victory for the City of Vienna: At the 2011 Vienna Wine Prize gala at Vienna’s City Hall at the end of June, the Pinot Noir Bellevue Reserve 2007 produced by the Cobenzl wine estate received the distinction of being the best wine in the “St. Laurent and Pinot Noir” category.

The finest Vienna wines were awarded prizes in 12 different categories at a festive gala in the arcaded courtyard of Vienna’s City Hall. The winning Cobenzl wine was stylishly described as having a complex bouquet, with hints of basket of berries, fruity, delicate and elegant. The grapes from which this Pinot Noir is made come from the Bellevue vineyard in Lower Sievering, one of the finest and sunniest locations in the city. “We subjected the grapes to a very strict process of selection during the harvest, which is why the wine is very intensive in colour. The Pinot Noir was then aged in small oak barrels for two years, resulting in a particularly harmonious barrique note,” is how Thomas Podsednik, manager of the Cobenzl winery, explains his victory. The wine estate has already got off to a good start this year, winning eight gold medals and five nominations for provincial winner at the 2011 Vienna Provincial Wine Fair.

Besides Cobenzl, the provincial winners also included the Christ winery with the 2010 Pinot Blanc quality wine, the Edelmoser wine estate with a Reisberg, the 2010 Sauvignon Blanc quality wine, and the Mayer am Pfarrplatz winery with a Nussberg, the 2010 blended quality wine. For a period of three days, wine connoisseurs were able to taste all 109 gold-medal-winning Vienna wines in the arcaded courtyard of the City Hall.

Top quality

“Vienna wines are of top quality, as this year’s wine prize has clearly demonstrated once again. I am naturally especially pleased that the Cobenzl wine estate has won a provincial prize. This award proves that our municipal wine estate not only produces first-class white wines, but that its red wines are also at the top of the league,” emphasizes Ulli Sima, Executive City Councillor for the Environment. The Vienna wine growing industry is almost as old as the city itself, with 700 hectares of vineyards, 230 vintners and 150 wine taverns. The Austrian capital has a special status world-wide thanks to the fact that the townscape is characterized by the city’s own vineyards within city limits.

Two prizes awarded at SALON Austrian Wine

The Cobenzl wine estate also scored at SALON Austrian Wine, the nation’s most prestigious wine competition. Both the 2010 Riesling Senator and the 2007 Pinot Noir Bellevue Reserve 2007 were distinguished as SALON wines.