Schuller might be biased, but he is not alone. There's little question about the benefits of a wine trip to Austria. The countryside is beautiful. Wine costs just over half the US retail price -- if the wine is even available in the United States. The nation has one of the world's strongest cellar-door traditions, the practice of selling wine directly to the end consumer, which persists even as the wines -- bone-dry Rieslings, peppery Gruner Veltliner, exotic reds, world-class sweet wines -- gain an international following. Wine author and columnist Jancis Robinson raves about the whites in her ''Purple Pages" on her website (www.jancisrobinson.com).
Wine specialist Stephen Tanzer has been an advocate of Austrian wines for years, and wine writer Philipp Blom is so enamored of them that he wrote a book on the subject, ''The Wines of Austria." Wine & Spirits magazine tasting director Peter Liem has been to Austrian wine country five times, and calls it ''very friendly, very convivial, and very inviting." And although almost everyone here speaks English, few Americans are yet in the know.
''In terms of sheer quality and value for money, you'd have a hard time trying to beat the great whites of Austria," says Blom from his home in Paris. ''Crystal-clear and complex aromas coupled with wonderful individuality and fabulous aging potential at a price for which you won't even get a mediocre Californian."
Take, for example, Willi Bründlmayer's estate in Langenlois, one of the first towns en route to the Wachau Valley. At 170 acres, his winery (www.bruendlmayer.at), one of Austria's largest and best, is modestly cellared on a side street above the town church. The vintner has a flair for lyricism, and it shows in his sensual wines.
