The largest wine performance show in Austria, held once a year since 1988. It is organised in cooperation with ÖWM (partner for the Austrian tour and final selection). Until the 2021 vintage, there were the categories grape variety (8), predicate wine and red wine cuvée. In recent years, both wine law and wine marketing in Austria have increasingly developed from variety-oriented Germanic to origin-oriented Romance wine law. This means that the origin of wines is emphasised more than grape varieties and quality levels. This is because grape varieties are internationally interchangeable, but origins are not. The regulations were therefore changed. Since the 2022 vintage, wines are no longer grouped and tasted according to grape variety, but according to origin.
Evaluation
An independent Salon jury selects Austria's best wines in a multi-stage blind tasting using the 20-point system. The jury consists of sommeliers, restaurateurs, experts from the wine trade, other wine experts as well as winemakers and wine consultants. In addition to classic criteria such as colour, aroma and taste, the jury also evaluates how the origin can be tasted in the wine, from the wine-growing region to the vineyard. The category "wines typical of the region" includes, for example, the DAC wines from all wine-growing regions. In this category, in addition to the classic tasting criteria, the decisive factor is how well a wine conveys the typical taste of its wine-growing region.
Categories
The wines are tasted and evaluated in five main categories (each with subcategories). These are:
275 Salon wines
A total of 275 Salon wines will be awarded. As in the past, the state awards form the basis of the SALON wines. Every year several thousand wines are submitted to these competitions, the best of which will be selected for the final SALON blind tasting. Furthermore, 60 wines are nominated by the leading wine magazines, which then compete with the wines of the national awards in the tasting. This means that around 600 wines and sparkling wines will be tasted in the blind tasting. The absolute top is represented by the salon winners determined per category/subcategory. In 2023, these were 28 wines or producers. These were awarded prizes at a special event at Palais Niederösterreich.
Further information
See also the keywords awards, wine speech, wine evaluation, wine guide, wine enjoyment, wine tasting and wine events.
Images and source: ÖWM - Austria Wine
