Wien is the Place for Wine

At a blind tasting of white wines at London's Groucho Club late last year, seven out of the top 10 places were taken not by the usual suspects from France, California or South Africa but by Austrian Chardonnays and Grner Veltlinersthe crisp yet full-bodied wine grown mostly in the east of the country. In the U.S., people began talking the wines around 1999, when chef David Bouley opened Danube, a New York City restaurant inspired by Viennese cookery with a wine list long on Veltliners. Says Bruce Sanderson, senior editor of Wine Spectator: "Chefs and sommeliers in top restaurants around the...