Vienna

The capital of Austria is also one of the nine federal states and, with around 1.9 million inhabitants, the most populous and, at 415 km², the largest city in the country. Until 1986, Vienna was also the capital of the largest federal state, Lower Austria, before being replaced by St. Pölten. The Danube flows through the city from north to south-east over a length of more than 20 kilometres, along the banks of which other wine-growing regions of the country are also located. With 582 hectares of vineyards, Vienna is the city with the largest wine production in the world.

Wine taverns in Vienna

The fact that Vienna and wine are inextricably linked is also demonstrated by the fact that the two words are formed from the same letters. In the Middle Ages, the city was called "Weyn" in German dialects. The well-known wine author Hugh Johnson writes that no city is as full of wine bliss as Vienna. The Viennese Heuriger is known worldwide and many guests come to Vienna (also) for this reason. The 180 Heurigen establishments also sell high-quality bottled wines by the glass. There are wine taverns in Döbling (including Grinzing, Heiligenstadt, Neustift am Walde, Nußdorf, Sievering), Mauer, Oberlaa, Stammersdorf and Strebersdorf.

History of Viennese viticulture

Viennese viticulture has a two and a half thousand year history and is at least as old as the city itself, when it was still a small settlement. The Celts and before them the Illyrians had already been growing wine in "Vedunia" in 500 BC before the Romans, as many finds such as wine barrels, pressing devices and grape seeds prove. These include the Bisamberg and Nußberg vineyards, where many vineyards are still planted today.

Vineyards in all districts

When Emperor Marcus Aurelius Probus (232-282) lifted the ban imposed by Emperor Domitian (51-96) on planting vines outside Italy, the legionaries in "Vindobona" began to cultivate vines using Roman methods. The picture below right shows the emperor instructing the Noricum tribe (Noricum = Celtic kingdom) in viticulture. Today's large city with an area of over 400 km² is literally built on vineyards.

Even in the late Middle Ages, the largest parts of today's 23 districts of Vienna were full of vineyards, even in today's core area of the city within the so-called "Gürtel", a main traffic artery surrounding the nine inner districts of Innere Stadt (1) to Alsergrund (9). There are documents attesting to vineyards in today's neighbourhoods and districts of Stadtpark, Minoritenplatz, Rennweg, Alserbach, Alsegg, Matzleinsdorf, Linke Wienzeile, Weißgerberlände, Landstraße, Wieden and Mariahilf.

Wine as the main source of income

Throughout the Middle Ages, viticulture was one of the main sources of income in Vienna and many Viennese lived directly and indirectly from it. Even in the early Middle Ages, the innkeeper trade was considered a lucrative business and the names of wine taverns are documented from the 14th century. The picture on the left shows a vineyard on the Glacis in 1547, an open space outside the city walls in front of the Löwelbastei (today the square of the University of Vienna).

Epistle "The drinking fool"

Today's "Stubenviertel" in the 1st district was named after the many wine taverns and pubs in the area. There were regulations as to who was allowed to serve and sell wine and under what conditions, with protective measures against carousers and brawlers. Because "drinking and brawling" was part of the way of life. The epistle Sauffnarr by the famous preacher Abraham a Sancta Clara (1644-1709) provides eloquent information about this. Strict laws were passed to protect wine. Strong competition arose from beer and in 1430 Duke Albrecht V (1397-1439) banned the public serving of beer, as this could cause great harm to the town and our burghers.

Wine book "Von Baw, Pfleg und Brauch des Weins"

From the middle of the 14th century, Viennese wine was sold to the Holy Roman Empire (Germany), Poland and Bohemia. At the beginning of the 15th century, the vineyards in Vienna and the surrounding area grew rapidly and almost completely replaced agriculture. In 1426, Duke Albrecht V therefore banned the planting of new vineyards in order to secure the city's food supply. Emperor Ferdinand I (1503-1564) designated wine as the first food of the city of Vienna in a city charter. The wine book by the clergyman Johann Rasch (1540-1612) describes viticulture, wines, vineyard cultivation, cellar techniques and the drinking culture of the time in detail.

Wine tax

Emperor Ferdinand III (1608-1657) used wine to finance the defence of Vienna against the Swedish siege during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) by introducing a wine tax of one groschen per bucket of wine stored in 1639. The Swedes were successfully repelled. The captured Swedes were given a glass of the taxed wine as a mockery, which was labelled "Swedish wine". The best wines were stored in the three-storey k.k. Court cellar deep below the castle. The then Emperor Leopold I (1640-1705) commissioned the construction of a giant barrel with a volume of 5,050 buckets, or 285,000 litres of wine.

Dear Augustin

A history of wine in Vienna would be incomplete without mentioning the famous balladeer Lieber Augustin (who lived in the 17th century). Worth mentioning is the year 1443, in which the wine was so extreme acid that even the tyres of the barrels were allegedly attacked. In the Viennese vernacular, which has always been adept at "getting to the heart of the matter", the term " Reifbeißer" was created.

Viticulture in Vienna today

Vienna is both a generic and a specific wine-growing region. Together with the federal states of Lower Austria and Burgenland, Vienna forms the wine-growing region of Weinland Österreich. Around 500 winegrowers cultivate vines mainly in the west and north of the city. There are vineyards in 9 of Vienna's 23 districts. The majority of the 145 vineyards are located in the 19th district of Döbling (86 with over 300 ha), in the 21st district of Floridsdorf (33 ha) and in the 23rd district of Liesing (11 ha). There are five large vineyards, as well as other vineyards. The large vineyards are:

• Bisamberg-Wien (1) - 21st Floridsdorf with cadastral districts Groß-Jedlersdorf, Stammersdorf, Strebersdorf
• Kahlenberg (3) - 19th Döbling with cadastral districts Kahlenbergerdorf, Josefsdorf
• Laaerberg (8) - 10th Favoriten with the cadastral district of Oberlaa Stadt
• Maurerberg (9) - until 2018 Georgenberg - 23rd Liesing with cadastral municipalities Liesing, Mauer, Kalksburg, Rodaun
• Nußberg (2) - 19th Döbling with cadastral districts of Nußdorf, Heiligenstadt

In addition, there are further vineyards in the districts, cadastral municipalities and Rieden:

• 01. Innere Stadt - Schwarzenbergplatz in the front garden of a Ringstrasse palace (see below)
• 13th Hietzing - Schönbrunn Palace with Gloriette and Liesenpfennig vineyards, Speising with Bergheiden vineyard
• 16. Ottakring (7) - Ottakring with Liebhart-Sommerleiten, Rosengartl and Wilhelminenberg vineyards
• 17th Hernals (6) - Dornbach with vineyards Alsegg, Heuberg
• 18. Währing (5) - Pötzleinsdorf with vineyards Öllern
• 19. Döbling (4) - Grinzing, Neustift am Walde, Obersievering, Untersievering, Salmannsdorf
• 22nd Donaustadt - Breitenlee with Riede Stadlbreiten, Süßenbrunn with Riede Süßenbrunn

Possible narrower designations of origin are a vineyard (e.g. Alsegg, Preußen, Reisenberg, Rosengartl), a Großlage (e.g. Bisamberg, Nußberg), cadastral municipality (e.g. Grinzing, Neustift a. W., Stammersdorf) or the municipal district (e.g. Donaustadt, Hernals, Ottakring).

Vineyards under monument protection

According to a state law that came into effect in 2015, Vienna's vineyards must be cultivated; this means that they are protected as historical monuments. All cultivators and landowners of Viennese vineyards are obliged to use them for viticultural purposes. Even areas that were cleared after the law came into force must be replanted after eight years at the latest. The winegrowers of the WienWein association had campaigned for this. In the past, Vienna's vineyards were always under threat from property speculation, as existing zoning and development plans offered too little protection. The law has put an end to this.

Schwarzenbergplatz and Schönbrunn Palace vineyards

A curiosity is the smallest vineyard in Vienna, with only 75 vines on around 170 m², in a front garden of the Ringstrasse palace "Wiener von Welten" in the Ringstrasse style at Schwarzenbergplatz 2 in the 1st district. It was planted around 1900 by a caretaker from Transylvania. Every autumn, the first grapes are harvested by the Mayor of Vienna to great media effect. Vinification is carried out by the Mayer winery on Pfarrplatz in the 19th district of Döbling. The harvest yields around 50 to 60 bottles of Viennese Gemischter Satz (mainly of the Grüner Veltliner variety), which are then auctioned off in December as part of the "Licht ins Dunkel" humanitarian campaign. There is also a small vineyard called Liesenpfennig in the baroque garden of the world-famous former imperial residence Schönbrunn Palace.

Grape variety index

In 2023, the vineyards covered a total of 582 hectares of vines. Compared to 2016 with 637 hectares, there was a reduction of 55 hectares (8.6%). The proportion of white wine varieties is 81% and red wine varieties 19%. The famous Wiener Gemischter Satz (white varieties) is in the lead, followed by Grüner Veltliner, Riesling and Zweigelt.

DAC white wine "Wiener Gemischter Satz"

The typical Viennese Heurigen wine is the "Gemischter Satz", in which different grape varieties are planted together in the vineyard and harvested, pressed and fermented together according to an old tradition. The "Wiener Gemischte Satz" was accepted by the Slow Food association as a "passenger" of the "Ark of Taste" in 2009. The origin-controlled white wine Wiener Gemischter Satz DAC has been available since the 2013 vintage.

In contrast to the other wine-growing regions, all Viennese quality wines may continue to be marketed as "Viennese wine" (non-DAC quality wines from the Weinviertel, for example, may only be marketed with the generic wine-growing region of Lower Austria as their origin). A Gemischter Satz that does not comply with the above provisions must be marketed as a Landwein with the designation of origin Weinland.

Producers

Well-known Viennese wine producers, often with an associated wine tavern, are Bernreiter Peter, Christ Rainer, Cobenzl, Edlmoser Michael, Fuhrgassl-Huber, Göbel Hans-Peter, Hajszan-Neumann, Helm Robert, Hengl-Haselbrunner, Hofer Wolfgang, Kattus, Langes Irene, Lentner Karl, Mayer am Pfarrplatz, Mayer Vitikultur, Nössing Manuel, Pfaffl Roman, Reinprecht Hugo, Rotes Haus, Schilling Herbert, Stift Klosterneuburg, Wieninger, Winzerhof Leopold and Zahel. Well-known winegrowers' associations are Traditionsweingüter Österreich, Vienna Classic and WienWein.

St Stephen's Cathedral: By Bwag - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
Heuriger: By Otto Domes - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
Weingarten Glacis and Probus: History of Vienna WIKI
Maps of Vienna and Döbling: © ÖWM - edited by Norbert F. J. Tischelmayer
Schwarzenbergplatz: By GuentherZ - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link