Obituary: Erich Salomon - decanter.com - the route to all good wine

It’s been a very sad month for Austria with the deaths of two exceptional winemakers, Alois Kracher, Jr (New York Times Obituary), and Erich Salomon. In 1973 I spent a semester studying in Austria and the wines produced there were nothing more than picnic wines to be consumed by the liter at picnic tables outside the wineries while drinking in the view. In just a few decades these two gentlemen, and a handful of others, transported Austrian wines from picnic tables to the white tablecloths of Charlie Trotter’s. The French Laundry, Per Se and other great restaurants. It was an amazing feat and these two men will always be revered. They were both too young to go, but as they fathered generations of great Austrian winemakers to come, their impact will never be forgotten.