Domäne Roland Chan Wösendorf Alte Reben Smaragd Weissburgunder 2023, a Pinot Blanc, has been awarded Best in Show at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2026.
Selected from nearly 17,000 entries globally, the estate’s Weissburgunder from Ried Höll was one of just 50 wines to receive the highest honour at the competition.
This historic win marks only the second time a Wachau wine has claimed Best in Show, and the seventh for Austria since the award’s inception.
For a domaine that bottled its first wine less than a decade ago, it represents nothing short of a defining international breakthrough—and a decisive confirmation of its place at the forefront of Austrian winemaking.
“This is, so far, the pinnacle of our achievements, and the result of tending closely to our terroir, rigorous selection, and a pure winemaking philosophy,” said Roland Müksch, who founded the estate with his wife Dr Sharon Chan in 2017.
“We built the domaine on one conviction: that old vines, superior terroir and patient, minimal intervention can produce some of the finest wines in the world. To have that recognised through the exacting blind judging of the Decanter World Wine Awards, assessed by 63 Masters of Wine and 24 Master Sommeliers, is profoundly meaningful. What means the most is that the recognition runs across our whole range, every grape and every site. It tells us the quality is in the land itself.”
Domäne Roland Chan Wösendorf Alte Reben Smaragd Weissburgunder 2023 is produced from vineyards in Ried Höll.
From left: Roland Müksch, Dr Sharon Chan, their son Oliver, father-in-law William Chan, and daughter Isabella.
Domäne Roland Chan is a small, family-owned estate in the heart of the Wachau, based in Wösendorf and Sankt Michael. The domaine cultivates three hectares of steep, dry-stone terraces across the region’s finest crus: Ried Achleiten—including a prized 0.8-hectare plot in the exclusive Achleiten-Himmelreich—as well as Ried Klaus, Ried Bach and Ried Höll.
The majority of vines exceed 30 years of age, with key parcels reaching 60 to 70 years, providing a foundation of depth and complexity rarely found in such a young estate.
