Wine market in Austria

Austria’s wine market stands out for its high share of on-premise consumption. While in the US and the UK only about 20% of wine by volume is sold at restaurants, in Austria it is a stunning 56%, according to a report by the Austrian Wine Marketing Board. Distributors play a lesser role as many restaurants buy wine directly from wineries or in retail.^[3]

The share of Austrian wines grew significantly in the last 12 years. In 2012, about half of the wine by volume sold in supermarkets was foreign; in 2024, it was only 31% by volume and 23% by value. Italian wines are the second most consumed after Austrian, with 13.8% by value, with Spanish and French accounting for only around 2% by value each.^[4]

The modern Austrian wine industry was defined by the aftermath of the “antifreeze scandal” of 1985, when a number of producers were caught adding ethylene glycol to wines to make them fit into specifications for higher prices when bought by large bottlers. Since then, the country’s wine industry has put enormous effort to distance itself from any illegal or even controversial practices, adopting one of the strictest wine legislations in the world, and promoting high-quality winemaking with a purist mindset.

The ÖTW (Österreichische Traditionsweingüter, Austrian Traditional Wine Estates) is an association of quality-minded producers similar to the German VDP. As of February 2026, it has 92 members.^[5] Much like the VDP, the ÖTW is not an official government trade body, but a club-like private organization that promotes its members.

Cooperatives in Austria account for less than 15% of total production which is less than half that of Germany. Unlike in Germany, many of them have been very successful in producing premium wines and selling them at high prices, with Domäne Wachau being the most prominent example.

Compiled and checked by Ilya Zabolotnov