What to eat with Grüner Veltliner? Cod, horseradish and the terraces of the Wachau.

Domäne Wachau: 250 families, one estate

Domäne Wachau has a long history. It began in the 12th century under Dürnstein Abbey, later belonged to the Starhemberg family, and in the economic crisis of the 1920s and 1930s the growers who worked the vineyards bought the estate and formed a cooperative. Today 250 grower families farm the vines, and Roman calls them the heroes: they focus on the vineyards while the Domäne handles winemaking, sales and marketing.

The estate owns a share of roughly a third of the Wachau's vineyards, spread across about 150 defined single vineyards, often just a few rows at a time. Andreas compares the fragmented structure to Burgundy. The Domäne makes around 30 single vineyard wines, plus regional blends that combine the warmer east and cooler west of the valley.

What makes the Wachau special

Roman points to geography and people. It is a small area of steep terraces along the Danube with barren, rocky soils, and its leading growers focused on quality as early as the 1960s and 1970s. Work is done by hand, which is why Andreas thinks a top Wachau wine is never expensive for what it is.

Two quality terms are worth knowing. Federspiel wines come from grapes picked a little earlier, with higher acidity and moderate alcohol. Smaragd is the top category, from later harvests and the best sites, full bodied, complex and long lived. Riesling usually takes the higher vineyards, while Grüner Veltliner, which handles heat and drought better, grows lower down and on the valley floor.

Cod loin with horseradish and dill

Roman pours the Achleiten Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2019, one of the estate's top vintages, and a Steinwerk Grüner Veltliner fermented in granite and marble. For them Andreas cooks cod loin, first brined in 10% salt for firmer, flakier flesh, then sautéed in plenty of butter for a crisp skin. The sauce combines butter, crème fraîche, chopped prawns, boiled eggs, grated horseradish and lots of dill.

The traditional Swedish version uses steamed or boiled cod, but the power of a Smaragd calls for more richness. Grüner Veltliner has thick skins and a little phenolic grip, and its texture loves butter and cream. It also stands up to dill and fennel and is a natural partner for the gentle heat of horseradish, something Austrians know well.

Andreas loves the name Steinwerk, which means stone work, and Roman says the stone gives the wine an extra spice.

A blind red and a deer tartare

Roman then offers a secret bottle, a personal favorite. It is red, layered and savory, with clove, cinnamon, white pepper, plum and cherry, little oak and fresh, ripe tannins. Andreas finds venison in the fridge and makes a hand-cut deer tartare with tiny beer-battered onion rings, a mayonnaise flavored with chanterelles, and black truffle.

He avoids raw onion with fine wine, using crisp onion rings for texture instead. Watch to see how Andreas reasons his way to the wine, and how Roman does in the food and wine memory game.

A Master of Wine at the stove

Roman only discovered wine in his mid twenties, through a bottle of aged Riesling. He studied at the Austrian Wine Academy and WSET, worked harvests in southern France and Chile and became a Master of Wine in 2009. His advice for learners: study, but above all visit the regions and meet the people. As for food, he reminds us that crisp Austrian whites exist for rich classics like Wiener schnitzel.

Andreas, a former world champion sommelier who has just turned 50, explains why he never took the Master of Wine or Master Sommelier route: the commercial side does not tempt a self-confessed wine romantic, though he has huge respect for those who do it. Both agree that wine education, from courses to online content and television, is a great thing, because wine touches geography, microbiology and history.

Go furtherTo explore the estates, vineyards and wines of the Wachau and Austria further, the wein.plus wine guide is a great resource.