Appellation · Austria
Südsteiermark
Steep green hills on the Slovenian border, making Austria’s most distinctive Sauvignon Blanc.
Sauvignon Blanc that is restrained, herbal and stony rather than pungent, with high acidity and a textured, sometimes barrel-influenced finish.
About Südsteiermark
Südsteiermark occupies very steep hills along the Slovenian border, and the vineyards run continuously across it — Slovenian Štajerska is the same landscape under a different flag.
Sauvignon Blanc here is quite unlike Marlborough or Sancerre: taut, herbal and restrained, often barrel-fermented, with a stony, smoky character and real ageing capacity.
Morillon is the local name for Chardonnay, and Welschriesling — unrelated to Riesling — is the everyday white.
The region is also the home of Schilcher, a sharp pink wine from the Blauer Wildbacher grape made in neighbouring Weststeiermark.
What the name means
- Legal name
- Südsteiermark DAC
- Type
- Districtus Austriae Controllatus (DAC)
- Set by
- Österreichische Weinmarketing / national wine law
- Recognised
- 2018
- Regulates
- Origin, plus grape varieties, maximum yields, minimum ageing.
An origin-typical designation: the wine must be made from the varieties and in the style the district is known for, in a defined regional / village / single-vineyard hierarchy. Austrian wines from the same place that fall outside the DAC style are labelled under the wider federal state instead.
Grapes
Wines from here
Rules worth knowing
Confirmed in the EU register
Südsteiermark is registered as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), file number PDO-AT-A0228, protected at EU level since 1996.
Article 107 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013
Specification published: Official Journal C 66, 23.2.2023 · Official Journal
Only the rules that change what to expect in the glass or on the label. WineHQ does not reproduce production specifications, and each entry carries the date it was last checked because appellation rules change.
The designation is confirmed above. WineHQ has not read this appellation’s production specification, so it publishes no yields, ageing minima or permitted-variety lists for it — those come from the document linked above, not from a summary of it.
What to eat, and how to serve it
Derived from this region’s signature styles. Each is listed separately, because a region does not have one serving temperature.
Where to go next
Places worth trying if you like this one — neighbours, rivals, and the obvious step across.
- Vulkanland Steiermark — Volcanic hills in south-east Styria, scattered among orchards and thermal spas, making aromatic dry whites.
- Burgenland — Austria’s red-wine heartland and the source of its botrytised sweet wines around Lake Neusiedl.
Approximate centroid: 46.72°, 15.50°. WineHQ stores coordinates only where it has them, and does not estimate boundaries it has not sourced.
Sources
Sources consulted
- Austrian Wine Marketing Board — Österreich Wein Marketing