Thanks to an encounter with a stash of old, forgotten bottles, a group of us were able to taste some unusually mature Austrian wines in London recently - and to see that an old property is now in excellent hands. Bishop Altmann founded the Benedictine monastery Stift Göttweig in 1083. The monastery is situated on the southern banks of the Danube, 450 metres above sea level and near the town of Krems. Although winemaking was always an integral part of monastic life, from the 14th century the monks began to keep meticulous records: dates of planting and harvesting, number of vines, tasks undertaken in the vineyards. The Stift...