📍 Carnuntum

Carnuntum is a wine zone in Lower Austria, on hills between Vienna and Bratislava, along the Danube. The name comes from ancient Roman Carnuntum, a legionary fortress and the main base of the Pannonian fleet, whose ruins lie near the villages of Petronell-Carnuntum and Bad Deutsch-Altenburg. The zone is part of Lower Austria.

The climate is Pannonian: warm summers and little rain, so red grapes ripen well. The main grapes are the reds Zweigelt and Blaufränkisch, and among whites Grüner Veltliner, Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay grow. Zweigelt is an Austrian variety bred in 1922, and it is the one most often associated with Carnuntum.

The Carnuntum DAC appellation has applied since the 2019 vintage. It comes in two versions, white and red. The whites come out fresh and fruity, and the reds soft, with a berry aroma.

Nearby are the Carnuntum Archaeological Park and an open-air museum, where the remains of the Roman city can be seen. The Roman city was a centre of the amber trade: the Amber Road crossed the Danube here. The park covers about ten square kilometres, and Carnuntum first appears in history under Emperor Augustus, around AD 6.