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Wachau is one of Austria's most established and notable wine regions, specializing in dry wines made from Riesling and Grüner Veltliner. Located in Lower Austria along the Danube, west of Vienna and Krems an der Donau, it is one of the western most wine producing regions in Austria with only a few scattered plantings in Tyrol being further west. While most of Austria follows a wine classification systems based on ripeness and harvest must weight that parallels the German wine classification system, Wachau wines have a unique classification system. The three classification levels for Wachau wine include ''Steinfeder'' for wines up to 11.5% alcohol level, ''Federspiel'' for wines between 11.5–12.5% and ''Smaragd'' that must have a minimum of 12.5% alcohol level.〔J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition pg 49–54 Oxford University Press 2006 ISBN 0-19-860990-6〕 Despite its renown, the Wachau is a small wine region that usually accounts for only around 3% of Austria's wine production.〔H. Johnson & J. Robinson ''The World Atlas of Wine'' pg 244–245 Mitchell Beazley Publishing 2005 ISBN 1-84000-332-4〕 ==History== Archeological evidence suggests that viticulture may have been introduced to the lands around the Danube by the Celtic tribes, most notably the La Tène and Noricum federation, prior to the Roman influence that came into the area following conquest around the 1st century BCE. Viticulture continued to flourish under Roman rule, with the introduction of Roman technology and knowledge, even though grape growing was technically banned in Roman territories north of the Alps. In the 3rd century, Emperor Marcus Aurelius Probus officially overturned the ban and is reported to have ordered the introduction of several grape varieties to be brought into the territories.〔 It has been speculated that both Grüner Veltliner and Welschriesling may have been introduced to the region during the Roman period.〔Blom, Philipp (2000) ''The Wines of Austria'' Faber & Faber ISBN 0-571-19533-4〕 The first written account to specifically mention wine production in the Wachau region was the writings of Eugippus in his biography of St. Severin, where the 5th-century Roman wine production at the Roman fort near the town of Mautern in the Wachau.〔A. Domine (ed.) ''Wine'', pp. 536–543 Ullmann Publishing, 2008 ISBN 978-3-8331-4611-4〕〔Monika Caha Selections ''"(About the Vinea Wachau )"'' pg 4, Accessed: December 12th, 2010〕〔Austrian Wine ''"(Viticulture in Austria – a journey in fast motion )"'' Accessed: December 12th, 2010〕 After the fall of the Roman Empire the Wachau region, along with most of Lower Austria down across the Pannonian Plain, was ravaged by repeated waves of barbarian invasions that took a toll on all forms of agriculture and trade. Wachau's wine industry entered a dark age from which it did not emerge until the time of Charlemagne in the late 8th and early 9th century. Under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire, the monastic influences of the Christian church continued to promote and sustain viticulture in the area. Much as the monasteries mapped out and planted plots along choice lands in the Burgundy and Mosel wine regions, the monks in the Wachau identified vineyard sites along the northern banks of the Danube that would be ideal for viticulture. Many vineyards that exist today in the Wachau can trace their origins to monastic plantings in the Middle Ages and Renaissance period.〔 From the 14th–16th century, viticulture in the Wachau hits its peak along with the rest of Lower Austria with plantings an estimated 10 times greater across the land than what exist today. Unfortunately, this period saw the development of a surplus wine lake due, in part, to overproduction and competition from neighboring Germany and Hungary. As prices and influence in the important Vienna market was being affected, Wachau producers banded with neighboring Austrian producers to demand protectionist tariffs and eventually an outright ban on any "foreign" wine being imported into Lower Austria. These measures helped stabilize the Wachau wine industry to some degree until the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th century, followed by the phylloxera epidemic that would reach Austria later that century, would devastate the vineyards of Wachau. Slowly the wine industry would recover and during the 20th century, the Wachau would gain a global reputation for the quality of its dry Riesling and Grüner Veltliner. Then the 1985 diethylene glycol wine scandal, caused by producers outside the Wachau, gained international attention and caused a dramatic drop in sales for Austrian wines across the board.〔 The Wachau, along with the rest of the Austrian wine industry, responded to the scandal with the development of strict wine laws and quality assurances. Producers in the Wachau already had a head start on this movement with the development a couple years earlier of the Vinea Wachau in 1983, a collaborative association that aimed to distinguish Wachau wine from other Austrian wines. In addition to holding its members to a guaranteed minimum quality level above the requirements of Austrian wine laws, the Vinea Wachau also established its own classification and wine labeling system that is still being used for Wachau wines today.〔〔Vinea Wachau ''"(Codex Wachau )"'' Accessed: December 12th, 2010〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wachau wine」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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