Wine will never be betterthan the grapes it's made from
MONVIN imports wines to Israel from growers in Central Europe – Austria, Germany, Czechia and Slovenia. These are family wineries where the work comes first in the vineyard and only then in the cellar: living soil, hand harvest, spontaneous fermentation, and minimal intervention on the way to the bottle.
The wines we import are true to their origins and express their terroir, with no technological makeup and no unnecessary manipulation in the cellar. They come from producers who see themselves first and foremost as farmers and stewards of the land, for whom nurturing biodiversity and looking after deep roots and vine health matter more than conforming to uniform commercial tastes.
These are honest, living wines, yet uncompromising in their precision and cleanliness. Fresh wines with acidity and energy, which offer a contemporary language on the wine shelf and exceptional versatility in pairing across a broad culinary range. Modern winemaking in the tradition of the Old World.
Countries and Growing Regions
Four countries, 12 regions. The wines of each region are defined by its climate, soil, varieties and classification system – even before you meet the wineries.
Austria
About 44,700 hectares of vineyards and more than 10,000 wineries, two-thirds white: Grüner Veltliner alone accounts for a third of the vineyards, followed by Zweigelt, Welschriesling, Blaufränkisch and Riesling. Today's Austria was born out of the crisis of 1985 – the glycol affair caused exports to collapse, and the industry rebuilt itself around dry white wines, quality and origin. The DAC system has been in place since 2002: a protected region, defined varieties and style, and a three-tier pyramid of origin – Gebietswein (regional wine), Ortswein (village wine) and Riedenwein (single vineyard wine). About 15% of the vineyards are certified organic, one of the highest shares in the world.
The easternmost state, on the Hungarian border, and "red Austria": 11,800 hectares, 57% of them red, with Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt in the lead. The climate is Pannonian-continental: hot, dry summers, a long autumn, and a growing season of up to 250 days. At the center is the shallow, broad Lake Neusiedl, which tempers the heat and creates humidity and autumn mists. Six DAC regions, from the sweet wines of Rust and Illmitz to the reds of Mittelburgenland.
The northern and eastern shore of the lake, from Gols to the Hungarian border (about 6,100 hectares): the Heideboden plain and the Seewinkel – loess, black earth, gravel and sand, and small salt lakes. The hottest and driest region in Austria, and one of the few places in the world where noble rot develops almost every year. The DAC (since 2011) is reserved for dry Zweigelt; alongside it are Blaufränkisch, St. Laurent, and today also whites and natural wines. Gols is the heart of this scene.
The Leitha Range on the western shore: limestone and mica schist on the slopes, coolness from the altitude and the wind, and wines that are tauter and more mineral than those of the plain. The DAC (since 2009) is one of the few in Austria that defines both a white (Weissburgunder, Chardonnay, Neuburger, Grüner Veltliner) and a red (Blaufränkisch), and it requires aging in neutral wooden barrels.
Austria's largest wine region: 13,900 hectares north of Vienna, from the Manhartsberg ridge in the west to the Slovakian border. Half the vineyards are Grüner Veltliner, and it was here, in 2002, that Austria's first DAC was born, built around the variety's "peppery" style (Pfefferl). Loess, loam and primary rock – granite around Maissau and around Retz at 200–250 m; a continental climate and cold nights. Grape seeds from Stillfried attest to vine growing here as early as 900 BCE.
The green, mountainous south: 5,100 hectares, almost all white, on steep hills between the Slovenian border and Graz. Sauvignon Blanc is the signature variety, alongside Welschriesling, Weissburgunder, Muskateller and Morillon (Chardonnay). The climate is Illyrian – warm and humid, with summer rain – and the vineyards are among the hardest to work in Austria. Three DAC regions since 2018, all within the pyramid of origin, and beside them the STK classification of the leading wineries: first vineyard (1STK) and great vineyard (GSTK).
The vineyards of southeastern Styria grow on slopes of up to 650 meters on extinct volcanoes: weathered basalt, volcanic tuff, loam and sand. This is a transition zone between the dry Pannonian and the humid Mediterranean, cooler at night. 1,650 hectares, 85% white – Welschriesling, Weissburgunder, Sauvignon Blanc, Muskateller and Chardonnay; each village in the pyramid has its own leading varieties. The volcanic soil gives the wines spice and salinity.
About 2,800 hectares on steep hills right up to the Slovenian border. The soils are varied: shell limestone (Muschelkalk) and marl around Ehrenhausen and Gamlitz, and in the picturesque Sausal area in the north, red and black slate at 500–600 m – the highest vineyards in Styria. The flagship wine is Sauvignon Blanc in its ripe, mineral version, alongside Morillon, Welschriesling and Muskateller. Ried (single vineyard) is a legal term here: the STK's vineyard wines age for two years before release.
Germany
About 103,000 hectares in 13 growing regions, two-thirds white, with Riesling in the lead (23%), along with Müller-Thurgau, Spätburgunder and Dornfelder. The vineyards lie on the border between the humid oceanic climate of the west and the dry continental climate of the east, most of them in the Rhine and Mosel valleys, on sheltered south-facing slopes. German wine culture is some two thousand years old, and more. Charlemagne (748–814) ordered forests cleared and vines planted, and the Cistercian monasteries shaped the standard. But the current generation marks a turnaround: dry wines, quality Sekt, and the vineyard classification of the VDP association: Gutswein (estate wine), Ortswein (village wine), Erste Lage and Große Lage (the great vineyards, whose dry wine is Großes Gewächs).
A narrow valley west of the Rhine, only 4,200 hectares, but with the greatest geological diversity in Germany: quartzite and slate in the lower Nahe, volcanic porphyry and melaphyre and red sandstone in the middle, loess and loam around Bad Kreuznach, and here and there several rock types in a single vineyard. The climate is mild and sheltered, the summers warm and the nights cool; three-quarters white, and Riesling (29%) is the defining variety. A traditional saying: the Nahe valley joins the fruit and vitality of the Rhine with the spritz and sharpness of the Mosel.
This is Germany's second-largest region – 23,500 hectares over 80 km, from Worms to the Alsace border – and one of its warmest: the Palatinate Forest range shelters it from the west, and it has 1,800 hours of sunshine a year and an almost Mediterranean climate, with almond and fig trees in the villages. In the Mittelhaardt (Deidesheim, Forst, Ruppertsberg) the soils are light – colored sandstone, sand, marl and limestone – and the vines grown in them yield some of Germany's best dry Riesling; in the south (Maikammer, Landau) the loam is heavier. Riesling is a quarter of the vineyards, alongside Dornfelder, Grauburgunder and Spätburgunder. Vine growing is documented here from Celtic graves dating to 550 BCE.
This is Germany's largest wine region, 26,800 hectares in the triangle between Bingen, Mainz and Worms – "the land of a thousand hills." One of the driest regions in Central Europe (550 mm of rain a year on average) and one of the warmest in Germany, on deep loess (up to 15 m), limestone, marl and red sandstone. Riesling (18%), Müller-Thurgau, Silvaner and Pinot. Germany's oldest documented vineyard, Glöck in Nierstein, is mentioned in the year 742. In recent decades Rheinhessen has been the laboratory of the young generation of German wine, from the Message in a Bottle group to the natural wineries.
Czechia
A small and ancient wine country: 96% of the vineyards are in Moravia, in the southeast, on the Austrian border, the geographic continuation of the Weinviertel. Legend attributes the first bottle to Prince Svatopluk in 875, and the monasteries of the 13th century brought the varieties from France and Germany. The wines are mostly aromatic whites: Grauburgunder, Riesling, Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Pálava (a local Traminer cross), Grüner Veltliner and Welschriesling; the reds include Pinot Noir, Blaufränkisch (Frankovka) and Zweigelt. Quality classification still goes by must weight, as in Germany, but since 2009 the country has been developing an appellation system of its own – VOC, wines with certified origin – and a lively, authentic natural wine scene.
The southwestern subregion of Moravia: 3,500 hectares and 91 wine villages around Znojmo, at 240–320 m, sheltered by the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands. A dry, breezy climate (about 470 mm of rain), warm days and cold nights – hence the aromatics and bright acidity of the white wines. The base is the Dyje Massif – granite and gneiss – with loess over gravel in the north and sand in the south, around Šatov and Hnanice. The region's three varieties, Sauvignon, Riesling and Grüner Veltliner, are also the basis of Czechia's first VOC (Znojmo, 2009). The vineyards reach as far as Podyjí National Park, home to the old Šobes vineyard.
Slovenia
About 15,000 hectares in three regions – Podravje (the Drava valley) in the northeast, Posavje (the lower Sava) and Primorska on the coast – three-quarters of it white wine. The Celts planted vines here in the fourth century BCE, Pliny described the wines as an elixir of life, and in Maribor grows the oldest vine in the world, more than 400 years old. A 2016 DNA study found that Blaufränkisch probably originated in Slovenian Styria. The classification of origin: table wine, regional wine (PGO), quality wine and premium wine with protected origin (ZGP), and traditional wines (PTP) such as Teran and Cviček. The vineyards are steep, the harvest is by hand, and the tradition, as in Austria, is a single variety per bottle.
Slovenian Styria is the largest of the districts (8,700 hectares) and 97% white: Laški Rizling (Welschriesling), Šipon (Furmint), Sauvignon, Renski Rizling and Traminec. Haloze, south of Ptuj as far as the Croatian border, is a 40 km range of some of the steepest hills in Europe, with gradients of up to 65%, single-row terraces, and Opoka soil: marine marl from the Miocene, about one-third limestone and two-thirds clay. The climate is continental-Pannonian: hot summers, cold winters, about 600 mm of rain and a difference of up to 20°C between day and night. Around Maribor, north of the Drava, rainfall is double and the soil is coral limestone. The SVL (Slovenska Velika Lega), an association of origin-focused wineries, classifies wines in three tiers: Okoliš (region), Vas (village) and Lega (vineyard).
