Schilcher is a wine produced solely in the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n state of

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

, in the districts of

Deutschlandsberg Deutschlandsberg (; ) is a town in Deutschlandsberg district of Styria, Austria. It is located in southern Austria, near the border with Slovenia. It is approximately 35 km from Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Au ...

and

Voitsberg Voitsberg () is a small city in the district of Voitsberg in Styria, Austria, with a population of c. 9,400 . It grew upon the St. Margaret church at the Tregistbach river and was first mentioned in 1220 as Civitas. Remains of the Greisenegg pa ...

. The Schilcher wine itself is a distinct

rosé A rosé () is a type of wine that incorporates some of the wine color, color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the Macerati ...

made from the indigenous Blauer Wildbacher grape. The colour ranges from a light onion tinge to a deep ruby. The grape was once a wild variety that was said to contain alcohol compounds that, allegedly, would induce wild inebriation, hence its colloquial name ''Rabiatperle'' - rabid pearl. Over time, Schilcher has become a regarded wine in Austria. The name Schilcher originates from the

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; or ; , shortened as ''Mhdt.'' or ''Mhd.'') is the term for the form of High German, High German language, German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High ...

word ''schillern'' meaning to radiate with colour.

Wine style

Wine from the Schilcher grape is also used for blending and for the production of sparkling wine. The wine has a strong acidity and is renowned for its exclusive

aroma An odor (American English) or odour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is a smell or a scent caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds generally found in low concentrations that humans and many animals can perceive v ...

, often associated with strawberries. It should be drunk relatively young at a temperature of 9 to 11 °C accompanied with traditional

n cold cured meats. Authentic Schilcher wine must carry the official emblem of the white horse (referring to the

Lipizzan The Lipizzan or Lipizzaner (, , , , , , ) is a European horse breed, breed of riding horse developed in the Habsburg Empire in the sixteenth century. It is of Baroque horse, Baroque type, and is powerful, slow to mature and long-lived; the coa ...

s bred in

Piber The Piber Federal Stud (''Bundesgestüt Piber'') is a stud farm dedicated to the breeding of Lipizzan horses, located at the village of Piber, near the town of Köflach in western Styria, Austria. It was founded in 1798, began breeding Lipizza ...

for the world-famous

Spanish Riding School The Spanish Riding School () is an Austrian institution based in Vienna, dedicated to the preservation of classical dressage and the training of Lipizzaner horses, whose performances in the Hofburg are also a tourist attraction. The leading hor ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

) and also carry the official certification number of denomination.

References

{{reflist Rosé wines Austrian wine Economy of Styria