Winegrowers come out on top

Styrians are world champions in Sauvignon wines

This is what winners look like! Head of Wein Steiermark Stefan Potzinger (right) presents Gustav Schneeberger, Reinhard Muster and Walter Frauwallner (from left)

(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

What an accolade for the Styrian wine elite: Styria hosted the big Sauvignon Selection by CBM, where the best of the best wines from all over the world compete for the Sauvignon World Championship. And the white-green winegrowers won three of the four coveted trophies!

Winning just once in the lottery is nothing short of a miracle and must be incredible - and then twice! "Yes, that's how it feels for me right now," smiles Reinhard Muster, a winemaker from Gamlitz. On Thursday, he was crowned world champion in the most important international competition for the best Sauvignon. And for the second time.

Stefan Potzinger, Wine Princess Marlene, President of the Chamber of Agriculture Franz Titschenbacher

(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

This year (for the second time since 2018), the competition, which the wine world is watching with wide eyes, took place in Leibnitz, Styria. 1285 winegrowers from 27 countries sent their showpiece wines to the competition, making the CMB the most important and largest Sauvignon competition in the world. The jury of producers, journalists and experts also came from 20 countries.

The international expert jury

(Bild: Wein Steiermark Walter Scheucher)

In the morning, blind tastings were held - in the afternoon, the jury was proudly whisked away to the most beautiful corners of Styria. "For example, we were exceptionally allowed to ring the bell at Seggau Abbey - something that normally only happens when a bishop dies," smiles Wein Steiermark boss Stefan Potzinger. "People went home with great impressions." "We didn't expect such high quality," said a Brazilian wine expert from the jury. And: "Host qualities, the country and the events were brought to perfection here," praised a member from Finland.

(Bild: Wein Steiermark Walter Scheucher)

Tenor: "It would not be easy to find a bad Sauvignon in Styria." Only one thing has been missing so far: the big international stage. But that is reliably over!

Because: 156 Styrian wines were submitted. And at 42 percent, almost every second one took home an award. But that's not all: "There are four really important, outstanding awards, including the world champion," explains expert Stefan Potzinger. And three of them actually went to Styria!

• The Schmölzer winery  won the Tonnellerie Sylvain Trophy, which honors the best wine matured in oak barrels, with the Schmölzer Sauvignon Blanc Kitzeck-Sausal Privat 2019.
• Frauwallner, the successful winegrowers from the Vulkanland region, were honored with " Sweet Revelation" for their outstanding Sauvignon Blanc Ried Stradener Rosenberg 2017.
• And: The Muster winery from Gamlitz took the cake with the best Sauvignon in the competition and won the world champion title. Their Sauvignon Blanc Grubthal 2020, produced in Gamlitz, impressed the judges with its elegance, length, complexity and impressive pineapple notes.

The world champion and the queen

(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

What a success - and even the second for Muster. "I'm totally surprised and overwhelmed," said Reinhard Muster, describing his first impression. "Especially as I was only 'lured' to the award by Stefan Potzinger under the pretext of bringing my wines to the tasting." Back in 2018, he, who "produces wine in the slipstream of the big names", won the most prestigious award in the industry. "After that, I didn't enter any more because I thought to myself that winning once was the crowning glory anyway, so what else could come after that?"

Making wine is mental work
Well, the second award this year. Why is his wine so good? "In addition to the craft of winemaking, I also work a lot with my head," is his analysis. "I 'think up' the wine, imagine exactly what it should look like, what requirements it should fulfill. And I don't deviate a millimeter from this idea. That is the secret of my success." And that the Sauvignon challenges him: "They don't call it the diva for nothing, this wine is moody, sometimes grumpy, temperamental. It is my great love." Incidentally, wine is grown on 100 hectares at Muster.

This success puts Styria, which has the declared aim of becoming the world leader in Sauvignon, firmly on the big stage. Demand is set to explode. Although, as one jury member wittily commented: "The Styrians are clever and drink their wonderful Sauvignon themselves - there's not so much left to export!"