A Visit to Vienna’s Wine Country

Grinzing

The weather forecast suggested that today was the day to visit one of Vienna's wine producing districts.  It was a crisp and sunny day with seasonal temperatures forecasted.Vienna is the only metropolis that grows enough wine within its city limits to make it worth mentioning. 700 hectares of Viennese vineyards leave their mark on the cityscape and its culture. Wine growing has a long tradition in Vienna, dating back to the Romans. White wines are grown in 80 percent of the vineyards, with Wiener Gemischter Satz being a specialty. A little online research told me that I could take a tram from near the apartment out to the end of the line in Grinzing. Grinzing was once an independent municipality but was incorporated into the city of Vienna in 1892. The same is true of several other outlying villages that produce wine. This is how Vienna ended up having vineyards within its city limits.

Monument to the fallen

The tram took about twenty-five minutes and deposited me right in the center of the village. The place was just oozing with charm.  It definitely felt like a small town and not part of a major capital city. I began by walking towards the parish church whose tower was visible as soon as I got off the tram. The church is small and has been recently renovated in a very tasteful manner.  A small park stood outside the church entrance with a sober monument to the villagers who had fallen in WWI. Perhaps because of the centenary of the Armistice, memories of the “Great War” seemed more prominent to me. From there, I began heading away from town. I was hoping to find a trail so that I could get into the woods a bit. Google Maps suggested that there was some open space not too far from where I was, so I just kept going. The street started to climb uphill and was lined with some very posh homes. Clearly, I was in a high-rent district, but I could see why. It was lovely and green.

Vineyard in Grinzing

Grinzing is home to a good number of “Heurige”, a distinctly Viennese phenomenon. Wine growers are allowed to sell their own wine on their property. Originally, the city folk used to pack a picnic and head out into the country. They would find a Heurige, buy some wine and sit down to eat and drink (tables and benches were usually provided, both indoors and out.) Today, most Heurige have food for sale. It’s generally a buffet, you select your items, go and sit down and they are brought to the table as is your beverage of choice. November is marked by the arrival of “Sturm” which is the first wine of the current year’s harvest. It’s generally still fermenting and it packs quite a kick. A real Viennese Heurige, in which only Viennese wines are served, is identified by a bunch of pine branches hanging above the door and by the word “Ausg’steckt” written on a board, which simultaneously shows when the tavern is open.

Viennese Vineyards -City in distance

I passed several Heurige on my way and finally came to my first vineyard. It was quite small, but there it was. I kept going and eventually reached a trail that led to the Kahlenberg, one of the low hills surrounding the city. The sign indicated that the first stop was a 10-minute walk. Soon I was huffing and puffing because the 10-minute walk was straight uphill. In the end, it was worth it because I came out onto an area where one could see down into the city. There were also extensive vineyards all around me. The leaves of the vines had changed to a beautiful golden color; and, in the bright sun, it was a spectacular sight.  I sat on a stone and just absorbed the beauty of my surroundings and, once again, felt blessed that I had been given the opportunity to travel like this.

Lunch in Grinzing

It was now close to one o’clock as I made my way back towards the village to have lunch. Heurige usually only open in the late afternoon/evening so that was not an option. I had passed a few restaurants, though. I stopped in a small park to consult my trusty TripAdvisor app. There was a place right across the street from me, but it had some not so complimentary reviews from tourists. I walked over anyway and looked at the menu posted outside; it had some interesting things on it. I decided to take a chance. It was your typical Austrian country restaurant. I was shown to a table, given a menu and asked for my drink order. I decided on the pumpkin soup again and the pheasant breast cooked in speck, a kind of cured beef. The soup was even better than the one I had tasted in Graz and it had a generous drizzle of pumpkin seed oil that added a nice texture. The pheasant breast was phenomenal, not dry at all, which can happen easily with game birds. It was served with red cabbage and potato croquettes. All in all, one very pleasant meal. The service was friendly and efficient, but I suspect that speaking German didn’t hurt. It also wasn’t terribly busy.

The Dirndl

I got back to the apartment and put my feet up for a while. I had really done a lot of walking today. I wanted to get some rest, because I was meeting Martin at 7:00 to go to a concert and then for something to eat. I took a nap and then decided that I had time to go back to the shop where I had purchased the dirndl for my grandniece. My sisters thought it would be cute if I could get one for her newborn baby sister, too. They did not have the same dirndl in a small enough size, but they did have one for a 6-12 mos. It was decreed that I should get that one. When I came up from the subway to street level, I could tell right away that something was wrong. There were police everywhere and there were broken bottles, trash and spent fireworks all over the place. Very un-Viennese! At the far end of the square, I could see that the police were herding some soccer fans into one street. As I got closer, I could see that they were wearing the colors of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Seems they were playing a match against Austria that night. I managed to get into the shop and get the dirndl.

I met Martin in his office at the University and we walked through the old city to St. Anne’s Church, where the concert was being performed. I had found this online and appreciated the fact that it was short, just over an hour. There were two string quartets on the program, the first by Mozart and the second was “The Emperor” by Franz Josef Hayden. It was a lovely program. We strolled down Kärtner Straße to an Argentinian place that Martin knew across the street from the opera. I was grateful that one of the options was a salad bar. After the lunch I had had, lighter fare was definitely in order! It was a relatively early night, since Martin had a full teaching schedule the next day. I was grateful to get to bed at a reasonable time,too.