Taste spring in Viennese wine

Did you know that Vienna is voted the world's best living city every year? And it's not just because of Sisi, Mozart and the Viennese Waltz. You can enjoy strolling through the vineyards that lie within the city limits. And waltz with fresh Viennese wine in your glass.
Text Marjolein Schuman / Image Austrian Wine/Robin Herbst

Austrian wine regions | Episode 4: Vienna

When the vines awaken from their winter sleep, from February onwards, is a great time to visit Vienna's vineyards. Vienna is the only metropolis in the world where wine is grown on such a large scale within the city limits. This happens on both banks of the Danube River in suburbs such as Neustift, Nussdorf, Jedlersdorf, Döbling and Grinzing: former villages that still have a recognisable village centre as well as extensive vineyards.

Heurige-tradition

You get there quickly by tram from the city centre and then spend hours walking among the vines and over the hills. And feast on wine and food. These days, you can do this at all sorts of hip wine festivals with the sounds of DJs and jazz in the background. But perhaps even more fun is dining at one of the many cosy taverns. Especially on the Nussberg and Kahlenberg you will find many of those Hot which are also very popular with the Viennese themselves. Vienna's Heurige tradition has even been added to UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage in 2019.

Wiener Gemischter Satz

City vineyards often serve no purpose other than attracting tourists, but not in Vienna. The vineyards play a key role in the local economy and help maintain the green belt that surrounds the city, not to mention producing some high-quality wines. The special type of wine produced in Vienna, the Wiener Gemischter Satz (field blend) was added to the list of Austrian DAC wines in 2013 and has now become the quintessential symbol of the wines of Wien.

It is a field blend of at least three grape varieties (sometimes as many as 20!) of one colour planted interchangeably in a vineyard and harvested at the same time. As you let the wine roll into your glass, scents of fresh apple, green grass, rose petals, herbs and citrus emerge from the spinning blend.

Junger Wiener

Another typical thing that adds zest to the city: in autumn, you can taste the 'Junger Wiener' everywhere here, in trendy wine bars, in stalls on the museum square and at festivals. It is the name given to the new harvest from 11 November. The very freshest wines, in other words. In February, the wine changes to 'Alter'.

Strebersdorf, Stammersdorf, Jedlersdorf

The Vienna wine region has 575 hectares and the main grape varieties are grüner veltliner, riesling, chardonnay and weissburgunder. 224 hectares of plantings are dedicated to Gemischter Satz. Burgunder, by the way, is the German word for the pinot grape. Favourable conditions for pinot varieties can be found, among others, on vineyards on the Bisamberg north of the Danube. They are grown here and mostly picked by hand by winegrowers from Strebersdorf, Stammersdorf and Jedlersdorf.

5 wine tips for all tastes

1.At Cobenzl, they make everything from Junger Wiener and Sekt to Gemischter Satz. But also fantastic quality wines like this one from Ried (vineyard) Hofbreiten on the Bisamberg that has been aged in barriques for 18 months. Intense fruity aromas such as morels, cherries and berries, hints of chocolate and refined tannins.

RIED HOFBREITEN - BISAMBERG WIEN, BLAUER ZWEIGELT 2019 | WEINGUT COBENZL.AT | € 12,40

2.Weingut Mayer am Pfarrplatz, already four centuries old, produces a delicious Riesling that caresses your nose with vineyard peach and your mouth with mineral notes with a fine salty note. Drink with sauerkraut with ham on the bone, of course, but also with Surinamese roti and sophisticated international dishes.

MAYER AM PFARRPLATZ | RIESLING ALSEGG HERNALS 2020 | WINEGURU.CO.UK | € 16,95

3.Fritz Wieninger has pioneered new Viennese viticulture for the past 20 years. His aromatic Gemischter Satz comprises as many as 9 varieties including weissburgunder, welschriesling and grüner veltliner, from a Muschelkalk soil on the Nussberg. Drink with salads, white meat and fish and Asian dishes.
WIENINGER | WIENER GEMISCHTER SATZ DEGOUDENTON.EN | € 18,60

4.Biological weingut Lenikus has nice plots in Vienna including some top layers as Nussberg, Bisamberg and Jungenberg, each with their own specific characteristics. Their pure Grüner Veltliner is a recognisable GruVee: elegant, pleasant acidity, nice fruit notes and white pepper.

LENIKUS WIENER GRÜNER VELTLINER CLASSIC | wineshopvanoostenrijk.nl | € 11,90

5.We did a cellar tour with tasting at this largest Sekt producer in Austria: highly recommended! For example, they make this fresh, fruity bubbly wine with raspberries, strawberries, cherries and rose petals from pinot noir.

SCHLUMBERGER ROSE ICE SECCO | DRANKGIGANT.EN | € 12,95

Want to know even more about the different wine regions? Read all on AUSTRIANWINE.COM 

Further reading? You can find out more in WINELIFE Magazine, issue 87. You can order this one here. 

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