Along the Danube to the west of Vienna, in Wachau, Kremstal and Kamptal, it grows with Riesling in terraces on slopes so steep they can barely retain any soil.

In recent blind tastings organized by the Austrian Wine Marketing Board, Grüner Veltliners have beaten world-class Chardonnays from the likes of Mondavi and Maison Louis Latour.

The steep vineyards of the Danube (Donau) west of Vienna produce very pure, mineral Grüner Veltliners intended for laying down.

Until the Second World War, it was regarded as just another Austrian grape, but after the introduction of Lenz Moser's Hochkultur system of vine training, it expanded quickly in plantation from the 1950s to later become Austria's most planted variety.

[7] In 2007, DNA analysis confirmed that Grüner Veltliner was a natural crossing of Savagnin (Traminer) and an obscure Austrian grapevine from the village of Sankt Georgen am Leithagebirge located outside Eisenstadt in the Burgenland region of eastern Austria.

[5] Grüner Veltliner is a mid-ripening grape variety that usually does not have an issue achieving physiological ripeness in most of the northern European wine regions where it is grown.

Grüner Veltliner is very susceptible to the viticultural hazards of downy and powdery mildews as well as infestation from a species of rust mites that feed on grape leaves.

[12] Grüner Veltliner is most closely associated with Austria where it is the most widely planted grape variety in the country, covering almost a third of all Austrian vineyards, with 17,034 hectares (42,092 acres) in cultivation in 2012.

[5] The Weinviertel region in the northeast, along the border with the Czech Republic and Slovakia, is home to more than half of all Austrian Grüner Veltliner with 8,529 hectares (21,080 acres) reported in 2012.

[5] In Krems-Hollenburg, located just east of Krems an der Donau, one of the oldest vineyards in Austria still being used for commercial wine production is home to old vines of Grüner Veltliner that are more than 150 years old.

Across the border in the Czech Republic, the local synonym for Grüner Veltliner is similar, Veltlinské zelené, with 1,713 hectares (4,233 acres) in production as of 2011.

[5] In Germany, Grüner Veltliner is the grape behind the historic Hansenwein produced in the village of Plochingen located outside Stuttgart in the Württemberg wine region.

In France, the grape is not permitted in any Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) wine however there are a few hectares of Grüner Veltliner being cultivated on an experimental basis in the country.

[5] In recent years, plantings of Grüner Veltliner have been expanding in the New World wine regions of Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada.

In New Zealand, the grape was first planted in the Gisborne region on the North Island where the first commercial bottle of the wine was released by Coopers Creek Vineyard in 2008.

Central Otago has a climate similar to the region of Wachau in Austria with hot day time temperatures and cool nights.

In the Umpqua Valley, Reustle Prayer Rock Vineyards is believed to be the first winery in the United States to produce a commercial Grüner Veltliner with their 2005 release.

Here the region's large diurnal temperature variation allow the grape to build sugar levels during the warm days but maintain a balance of acidity during the cool nights.

In recent decades, Ms Robinson has observed that this white pepper characteristic has become less noticeable and nowadays, more often than not, is absent in many classic examples of this variety.

According to wine expert Tom Stevenson, Grüner Veltliner is often lightly fruity with noticeable spice and characteristic white pepper note.