| Klaus Wittauer was born in Austria and attended Hotel/Restaurant Management School in Salzburg. He worked for many years in some of the world‘s top restaurants in Austria, Bermuda and the United States. While working at L‘Auberge Chez Francois in Great Falls, Virginia, Klaus would travel to France as well as back home to Austria to expand his knowledge and appreciation for wines.
In 1996, Klaus started working as the wine buyer for Sutton Place Gourmet and traveled extensively throughout Europe. This gave him the opportunity to learn more about the wine import business and to gain further knowledge. After traveling back and forth to his home in Austria, Klaus began to question why so many of these excellent wines he tasted where not available throughout the United States. He knew at this point that he would set out on his mission to find a way to introduce Austrian wines to America. In 2000, Klaus began to work for Select Wines, a Distributor/Importer. He attended the VieVinum International Wine event in Vienna, Austria where he met a wine producer by the name of Anton Bauer. After tasting many of Austria‘s top wines, Klaus recalls saying that he needed to invite Mr. Bauer for dinner to discuss export opportunities. Select Wines soon began to import Anton Bauer wines. With Klaus‘s background in the restaurant business and with many trips to New York City and back and forth to Austria, he began to hear more and more about Austrian wines in particular Grüner Veltliner. This grape is being used by top chef‘s and sommeliers in the latest in food & wine pairings. Klaus then knew he had to expand his import selection and formed an export company in 2002 with his business partner, Anton Bauer. Today, KWSELECTION includes top selections from most of the wine producing areas of Austria. His selections include: Anton Bauer from Donauland, Leo Hillinger from Burgenland, Gutsav Strauss from Styria, Martin Mittelbach from Wachau, Karl & Brigitta Steininger from Kamptal, Steindorfer from Neusiedlersee, Proidl from Kremstal , Meinklang from Burgenland and Joseph Bauer from Donauland. Klaus has a close relationship with all of his wineries and continues to build relationships together in expanding distribution throughout the United States. Klaus‘s vision is still the same as it was when he first began in the wine business, „To find good wines which are affordable, delicious and memorable for his customers.“ |
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KWSELECTION 