Here’s to the Heurigen!

 “Mahlzeit!,” said our Viennese hosts while they handed out glasses of cloudy liquid as we entered the pub’s garden. It was early October and we were at Schreiberhaus, a heuriger, or “rustic wine tavern,” to celebrate the heuriger, which also means “this year’s vintage.” As we stood in the picturesque garden overlooking the heuriger’s vineyards in the Vienna Hills, I learned that the cloudy liquid is called sturm. It’s the recently pressed juice of grapes that is only beginning to ferment. According to Caroline Derler, a food and wine expert based in Vienna, since “it’s not yet wine, we say, ‘mahlzeit’, literally ‘meal time.’ Otherwise [with any other type of wine or alcohol] it’s always ‘prost.’” 

Deep Roots

Viticulture is not new to Vienna. In fact, grapes were cultivated here as early as 1132 CE. Viennese wine-tavern culture was born in the 16th century and only grew more popular after 1784, when an imperial edict granted Austrian vintners permission to sell their wine and food directly to consumers. Anyone who lived in Vienna during this period would likely have run into musical luminaries like Beethoven, who not only frequented heurigen but lived beside one.

In the late 20th century these ancestral, family-owned and -run establishments came to be seen as the preserve of the senior crowd, places where groups of old fogeys would sing traditional Viennese songs accompanied by live music. This still happens. But in recent years, heurigen have been experiencing a renaissance among 20- and 30-somethings. 

“Everyone goes to heurigen,” says Derler. “Families. Hipsters. They’re cheap and casual, so they appeal to the younger crowd. We celebrate birthdays and important occasions there. I go with my friends. We take our daughter and meet up with other friends with young kids. We sit outside among the vineyards. Some heurigen have play areas, so the kids have fun.” 

So deeply entrenched in Viennese culture are heurigen, that in 2019 UNESCO inscribed them as part of the world’s intangible cultural heritage. 

Fertile City

Interestingly, the Austrian capital is the only major European city with a designated wine-growing area within its city limits. This means that you can get there by public transit … an added bonus, since there’s no need for a designated driver after a few too many glasses of grüner veltliner. 

The Vienna Hills count more than 1,730 acres of vines, 630 wine producers, and 180 wine taverns ranging from the traditional and touristy to the more innovative, now helmed by the younger generation. Some have restaurant licenses and are open year-round while others serve only cold food and are permitted to carry only their own wine. And, says Derler, some are farm-based while others are more commercial. 

Over at the 200-year-old Schreiberhaus, the young woman at the helm “is doing a lot of new stuff these days,” Derler says. Her buffet, for one, features a good .…

By Elizabeth Warkentin

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