Styria sits in the southeast of Austria, pressed against the Slovenian border, and it looks and works differently from the rest of the country. The hills are steep and green, often planted at angles that need winches, rainfall is high, and the air is cooler and fresher than in Lower Austria. Vineyards are scattered across three separate zones, the best known being Südsteiermark along the border ridge.

Sauvignon Blanc is the grape that made the region's name, grown here since the nineteenth century and made in a style that is taut, smoky and grassy rather than tropical, with the best examples aged in large oak and capable of years in bottle. Morillon, the local name for Chardonnay, and Welschriesling fill out the whites. Vulkanland in the east takes its character from extinct volcanoes, and Weststeiermark makes Schilcher, a sharp pink wine from the Blauer Wildbacher grape that exists almost nowhere else.