Stocking Austrian wines is, though, still viewed as risky by most wine buyers. The problem lies not just in the fact that the 1985 antifreeze scandal still lingers, when diethylene glycol was used to pump up the sugar and body of the country’s late-harvest wines, but also in Austria’s tiny output, coupled with high prices and quirky grapes and wine styles. Some Austrian producers’ penchant for Teutonic-inspired labels, complete with unpronounceable names and gothic script, does not help its cause. What Austria does have going for it is character in spades.

The distinctive, elegant, white-pepper spice of Austria’s leading grape, grüner veltliner, denotes much of the country’s style, as do its equally elegant rieslings, plus its late-picked, noble rot-affected sweet wines from the Burgenland. Austria also produces thrilling, aromatic dry whites such as pinot blanc, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc, and there are vibrant, bold, inky, berry-laden, indigenous reds, too, including wines made from the blaufränkisch grape, and from the zweigelt variety, as well as some good flavoursome pinot noir and merlot. Austria’s dry whites and reds also display high levels of acidity, making them especially food-friendly. All this, plus a run of good recent vintages, ’01, ’02 and ’03, has contrived to make Austria the central European wine producer to watch.

Start your Austrian wine experience at Waitrose which carries Gobelsberger’s easy, unoaked, leafy, spicy 2003 Grüner Veltliner for £5.99. Oddbins’ equivalent is the 2003 Salomon Groovey Grüner, with its fine, classic, celery, green apple and white pepper spice for £6.49. Gobelsberger’s seriously elegant 2003 Riesling is finer still, delivering juicy, floral, minerally spice (£7.49, Waitrose), and don’t miss Jurtschitsch’s 2002 Spiegel Grüner Reserve with its gorgeous buttered, honeyed toast of a taste (£14.99, Oddbins).

The pick of the wine merchants’ crop include Tinhof’s refreshing, grapefruit peel-scented 2004 Pinot Blanc, Krutzler’s 2003 Blaufränkisch, a gamey, red fruits-charged mouthful, and Juris’s 2001 Pinot Noir Reserve, all velvety strawberry fruit (£6, £8.80 and £18.80 respectively at Savage Selection, 01451 860896). Go on, give Austria a whirl.

jane.macquitty@thetimes.co.uk

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