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Rank of “fine wine” in the recently released Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index for 2022. Wine’s value (10%) came in fifth after art (29%), classic cars (25%), luxury watches (18%), and designer handbags (15%). The Index measures the 10 leading “passion-driven investments,” which, despite the economy, are in significant demand. The other luxuries for which value has increased in the last year: coins, jewelry, furniture, colored diamonds, and rare whiskey.

What major city in the world is also a commercially significant wine region?

A. Sydney

B. Vienna

C. Rome

D. Berlin

Someone in Rome must have a vine or two planted next to the tomatoes, but Vienna is the only major city in the world that is a commercially significant wine region. Within the city limits there are 1,600 acres (640 hectares) of grapes, all of which fall under a government protection program lest real estate developers be tempted.

Vienna’s traditional simple wine called gemischter satz—“mixed planting”—makes up about a third of all Viennese wine today. And while it’s never complex, it is fascinating. Just try to imagine the flavor of a wine made from riesling, pinot blanc, grüner veltliner, and gewürztraminer. Better vineyards in Vienna today are planted with a single varieties. In the western part of the city, the mineral-rich limestone soils lead to very good riesling, chardonnay, and pinot blanc. In the southern part of the city, darker, heavier soils lead to fuller-bodied whites and red varieties including zweigelt.

“We entered the wine industry when there were no wine magazines, no wine critics, no 100-point scale—all 23 of us vintners in the Napa Valley in the 1960s. What we learned, we learned from the vineyard itself. Back then, it seemed like less was better.”

— Janet Trefethen (Trefethen Family Vineyards is 50 years old this year)

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