PIWI Austria
Chairman PIWI Austria
Ing. Oen. Wolfgang Renner
Department 10
Test station for fruit and winegrowing HAIDEGG
Ragnitzstrasse 193
8047 Graz
Tel .: +43 (0) 316/877 - 6614
wolfgang.renner@stmk.gv.at
www.haidegg.at
PIWIS as a quality and varietal wine in Austria
PIWI grape varieties that can be marketed as quality wine:
- Flower muscatel
- Muscaris
- Rathay
- Roesler
- Souvignier gris
PIWI grape varieties that may be placed on the market as grape variety wine *:
- Bronner
- Cabernet Blanc
- Cabernet Jura
- Donauriesling
- Donauveltliner
- Johanniter
- Pinot Nova
- regent
* with the name of the variety and the vintage, but without a closer geographical origin (Austria only)
Latest News
PIWI WEIN - Departure for new wine times PIWI CH January 2021
Dear readers
Dear Piwians and connoisseurs
"It is not the strongest species that survives, nor the most intelligent, it is the one that is most likely to adapt to change." Charles Darwin
Yes, the year 2020 is really tough. These days, the positive and negative are often not far apart. The everyday is questioned, the unusual suddenly becomes normal. 2020 is pure change!
Reflection is once again the order of the day. Unfortunately, this is linked to the realization that we can only change and influence the world positively on a small scale. But at least we should enjoy that to the full!
It is unbelievably positive that we are allowed to make our life worth living in democratic Switzerland! A huge privilege!
Shift down a gear, give yourself and your loved ones more time, create something special in everyday life and consciously treat yourself to something good every now and then ...
This is what Marc Almert, Sommelier World Champion 2019/2020 said to himself. Since his place of work, the Hotel Baur au Lac in Zurich, was not exactly busy at the beginning of July due to Covid 19, he took a little PIWI break. After an extensive tour through our vineyards and winery, the focus was on tasting various PIWI wines: a real wow experience for Marc! But read his tasting notes for yourself right away!
The implementation of the first general meeting of PIWI CH on June 30, 2020 can really be described as successful. 60 people took part in the informative rebuild tour. Around 50 members and guests stayed for the meeting, followed by a tasting. We will therefore also plan the practical linking of technical PIWI cultivation topics and the general meeting next year. Unfortunately, the pandemic thwarted the rest of the annual planning: we were unable to carry out the wine trip to Poland or the W&D in Hiltl in Zurich. But, as is well known, postponed is not canceled!
Social change, global warming, the pandemic and other changes will continue to concern us in 2021. Flexibility and a spirit of innovation are required more than ever, which is nothing new for us Piwians!
Have fun reading and "stay healthy!"
Roland Lenz / President of the PIWI CH association
Is the market ready?
NEW GRAPE VARIETIES
The marketing of PIWI wine is characterized by various challenges.
Text: Christoph Kiefer, M.Sc. and Prof. Dr. Gergely Szolnoki, Hochschule Geisenheim University
Mushroom-resistant (PIWI) grape varieties are the next logical step towards sustainable cultivation within organic viticulture. Although PIWI grape varieties achieve economic and ecological advantages for winegrowers, fewer than three percent of German vineyards are planted with them. Other wine-growing countries such as France and Italy are registering increasing breeding successes, but the proportion of PIWIs in these countries is also at a low level. This mainly results from the lack of market acceptance by the consumer. Customer acceptance of these innovative grape varieties remains low despite the increased demand for sustainable food.
Within the VitiFIT, the team from Geisenheim examines the complete value chain of PIWI wines in order to better understand the attitudes and needs of producers, marketers and consumers. Based on this, a communication strategy is to be developed at the end of the project in order to establish PIWIs on the market in the long term.
This article analyzes the current market acceptance.
Source: Deutscher Weinbau 25-26 / 2020
PIWIS in the 2020 vegetation year by Wolfgang Renner - Austria
In the 2020 wine year, every seventh graft vine produced in Styria was fungus-resistant
Grape variety. But how do these innovative varieties come with the yearly
cope with more fluctuating weather conditions? Current experiences from the
Experimental cultivation is shown here in a compressed form.
Likewise, the assessments of the fungal attack per grape variety on July 8th and September 3rd
International PIWI Wine Award 2020 - the results are online!
413 Piwi wines from 15 countries were put to the test on the three tasting days from November 13th to 15th. A total of 42 great gold, 175 gold, 161 silver and 29 recommendations were awarded. 27 PAR ensured the usual quality and traceability of the results® Certified Master Tasters throughout Germany *), supported by the established digital infrastructure of WINE System AG.
PIWI Harvest 2020 - Germany
Many thanks to @weingutgaller and @weingut_edelbrennerei_gemmrich for these exciting insights!

PIWI Harvest 2020 - Austria
Wolfgang Renner, PIWI Austria, 2020 Pinot Nova and Sauvignac.
PIWI AT: New / innovative grape varieties 2020 - 30 percent more submissions
With an increase in the number of entries by exactly 32% compared to the previous year, the success story of the Austrian wine competition for PIWI varieties continues! Chairman Wolfgang Renner is convinced: "PIWIS can no longer be stopped"!
©Spandl
For the second time the association “PIWI Austria” organized the wine competition “New / innovative grape varieties” for Austrian wines made from fungus-resistant grape varieties. This year there were already an astonishing 146 wines from 64 different companies. As in the previous year, most of the wines came from Styria, which traditionally and climate-related has a larger PIWI area than the other wine-growing federal states. This time, however, the participants from the federal state of Lower Austria made a strong performance. More than a third of all wines submitted came from there and six out of ten categories were won!
Austrian PIWI wine competition "New / Innovative varieties 2020"
Conditions of participation
A PIWI wine competition is taking place in Austria for the second time. The tasting will take place on August 6, 2020 at the Haidegg experimental station.
- All PIWI grape varieties are permitted, as are cuvées made from PIWI grape varieties.
- All classic white and rosé wines are restricted to the 2018 and 2019 vintages. Only wines from Austria are allowed.
- All styles are possible (please mark). All wines will be tasted, winners will only be awarded in those categories in which at least 10 wines have been submitted. Companies with category winners must provide PIWI Austria with 6 bottles for presentation purposes free of charge.
Submission deadline: Registration for participation takes place using a form that can be downloaded from the PIWI-International homepage (under "PIWI Regional"): https: // piwi- international.de/piwi-regional/oesterreich/. The registration form must either be sent to wolfgang.renner@stmk.gv.at or enclosed with the wines. 3 bottles per wine must be in the
Experimental station Haidegg, Ragnitzstrasse 193, 8047 Graz
have arrived.
Cost: € 25 per wine for members of PIWI Austria or PIWI International, € 50 per wine for non-members. The participation fee must be paid into the account of PIWI Austria no later than August 4, 2020 under the "PIWI Wine Award Austria" purpose. If this is not the case, the wine will be excluded from the evaluation.
Bank details PIWI Austria: IBAN: AT48 3813 3000 0160 2713, BIC: RZSTAT2G133
The tasting is done with a trained panel according to the 20-point scheme. Certificates are issued for excellent wines, plaques for the categories "Category Winner", "Gold" and "Silver" can be purchased from PIWI Austria.
PIWI - straw fire or sustainable concept
Interest in mushroom-resistant grape varieties (PIWI) is still high and vine production is booming. The first successes are seen in the sale of some interesting varieties. But can this concept be of sustainable existence?
by Ing. Wolfgang Renner, Trial station fruit and wine growing Haidegg
Article published in FRUIT - WINE - GARDEN, Issue 1/2020

Share of PIWI refinements
PIWI workshop with the Sommelier Association Vorarlberg
With the question "PIWIS - The quality wines of the future" a workshop of the Vorarlberg Sommelier Association was held on January 19 in Feldkirch.
As a speaker, Wolfgang Renner, wine officer at the test station Haidegg in the state of Styria and chairman of PIWI Austria, explained the why, what and how of PIWI in a very practical way.
The seminar was supplemented with numerous PIWI wine tasting highest quality from Austria and Germany.
Then the "PIWI marketplace" the opportunity to get to know the wines of regional winemakers on a walk-around tasting.