Wine:
“A Taste of Culture, a Special Treat
Small is beautiful – that is what best describes Austrian wine, when put into international perspective. There are no run of the mill wines, but rather a rare speciality. Austrian wine is one of the most interesting phenomena happening in the world right now. The wines are found on every good wine list, are appreciated by wine experts and highly acclaimed by journalists. It is not uncommon to talk of an Austrian wine wonder. What is it, that makes Austrian wines so special? There are many reasons and the sum of all these factors has paved the path for the sensational quality boom over the past couple of decades. A prime reason is a tradition of winemaking, and grapevines have been cultivated in the same viticultural regions to be found in today's Austria for many thousands of years. Vines are synonymous with the landscape, the culture and daily life. This also applies to the typical Austrian grape varieties, and there are widespread plantings in the regional wine-growing areas. Coupled with ideal geological and climatic elements, the vines enjoy the best conditions essential for making authentic, distinctive wines with character and personality.
The concept behind this success story plays a vital role. The Austrian vintners and producers have all comprehended how important it is to successfully combine traditional viticulture with modern vinification processes. The motto is, quality without compromise and the result was success without exception.
Another significance is the diversity of Austrian wine culture, from lively, light-bodied examples to monumental, opulent whites wines, as well as charming, fruity to full-bodied, red wines with long cellaring potential. Last, but not least, a wide variety of enticing and elegant sweet wines, that are certainly amongst the world's best. What wine critics across the globe appreciate the most, is that Austrian wines are exceptionally appetizing and pair wonderfully with food, making Austrian wine sheer drinking pleasure. (Quelle: www.wineaustria.com )
Heurigen:
Heurige are typical Viennese taverns, where local wine-growers serve their most recent year’s wine and only it’s own wine can be served. There is also a limitation in served food, which customers an choose from a buffet. Until the 20th century, it was customary for guests to bring along their own food to go with the wine they drank at the Heuriger.
720 hectares of vineyards within the Viennese city boarders make the capital of Austria world’s capital of wine and provide enough wine for more than 100 Heurigen in Vienna. The vineyards are an important part of Vienna’s skyline and are shaping the landscape. Those vineyards are also favourite recreation spots.
Since centuries people meet at Heurigen drink, enjoy good local food and listen to typical Heurigen music for hours. “music is provided live by normally two Heurigensänger accompanying themselves on (often double-necked) guitar and accordion respectively. Walking from table to table and expecting tips, they will perform on request any songs from their repertoire of Wienerlieder and renderings of Schrammelmusik, for the benefit of all guests present.
The themes of these songs invariably revolve around the quality of the wine, the act of wine-drinking and its consequences, Vienna's beauty, a nostalgic longing for the past, the transitoriness of life, the inevitability of suffering and death at God's will, and, to a somewhat lesser degree, romantic love.
Mass tourism has taken its toll on the music performed at a Heuriger. Visitors from Germany will expect, or at least be happy to hear, one or two songs from, say, the Rhineland, but the Heurigensänger will also try to cater for the tastes of all kinds of nationalities whenever a busload of tourists arrives. Thus, music at a Heuriger has gone a long way since people such as Anton Karas earned a living by playing his zither or Hans Moser interpreted a Wienerlied in his movies.” (Quelle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuriger )
FeelsLikeHome works with the wine-grower Karasek that own a beautiful winery in Retz. (Weinviertel)
They offer wine-tasting tours that include the train-ticket to Retz (approx. 1h from Vienna), tasting of different wines and sparkling wines, tour through the vineyard, tour through the wine-cellar and snacks during the day.
As a FeelsLikeHome member you get a € 5.- discount so the whole wine-tasting package is only €30.- instead of €35.-
To order quality wine or to book a wine-tasting check: www.weingutkarasek.com
You can order here:info@weingutkarasek.com
Weingut Karasek is one of Austria’s traditional wineries founded in 1908. Its focus is on Austria’s most important grape variety that is called “Grüner Veltliner” and on Rosé made of another typical variety called “Blaufränkisch”. In the past the winery mainly produced local wine for the so called “Spritzer” (wine with sparkling water). From the very beginning Robert Karasek Jun. was highly interested in the production of quality wine. After his graduation from the viticultural school he decided to leave Austria to do some work experience abroad. During 3 Years in different places in Italy, France, New Zealand and Spain he complemented the practical part of learning to become a winemaker of international relevance. 2010 he came back home to the family winery and vinified his first own quality line in addition to the local wine. He created the “RAINBOW COLLECTION”: Wines from typical Austrian varieties with an international hint are unifying tradition and innovation. Wines
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