Guest of Honour – Cider World

Guest of Honour 2025
Styria – Austria

Apple Country Styria

The apple country of Styria is a picturesque region in Austria, known for its extensive orchards and the high quality of its apples. Idyllic hills with old orchards and modern commercial orchards stretch along the Styrian countryside.

Commercial Fruit Growing vs. Orcharding

The apple is the most important crop in Styrian commercial fruit growing. Around 75 per cent of the total area under cultivation in Austria is located in Styria, most of which is in Eastern Styria. In Styria, around 1,100 fruit farms grow dessert apples on around 6,000 hectares and harvest around 200,000 tonnes of apples in good years. Around 25 per cent of this area is cultivated according to controlled organic guidelines.

Even during the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, Styria was known for its apple growing and exported its harvests to many crown lands. The agricultural society founded by Archduke Johann recognised the fruit-growing potential of Styria even back then and contributed significantly to the promotion of Styrian fruit growing. Since the 1960s, there has been a great deal of modernisation, with a focus on smaller tree shapes and denser planting systems.

Apple Wine & Cider

Cider production in Styria is now highly professionalised. Not much is left of the former image of the ‘farmer’s drink’. Thanks to absolute professionalisation over the last few decades, Styrian fruit growers have managed to turn a simple drink into fine ciders with a strong character.

Thanks to the use of modern cellar technology and careful selection of varieties
modern, complex and drinkable ciders and ciders.

Quality Fruit Wine

The Fruit Wine Ordinance has been in force in Austria since 2014. This regulation defines the legal framework for the production of ciders, sparkling ciders and ciders.

Since then, it has also been possible for producers to have their products certified as quality fruit wines. In order to be allowed to bear the Austrian national coat of arms on their products, the products are subjected to strict laboratory analyses and sensory tests.

Such a strict quality authorisation for ciders is unique in the world and underlines emphasises the pioneering role of Austrian cider producers.

STM – Highest Quality Level

The seven best cider producers in Styria have committed themselves to a common goal: To produce cider to the very highest quality and sustainability criteria and bring it into the glass. The STM companies’ approach to quality ranges from cellar technology and sensory evaluations to sustainability criteria that extend to every last corner of the Styrian orchards.

Producing good cider has long since ceased to be enough for STM producers. To produce outstanding ciders, they need their own, even stricter quality criteria. All STM-certified products must therefore pass the STM pre-tasting in addition to the statutory regulations for quality fruit wine, fulfil specific sustainability criteria for organic diversity in the orchard and be committed to the preservation of old apple varieties.

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