Austria Tips?

Hi,

Any tips for hotels, restaurants, or weinguts in the area in and around the Wachau?

Any tips for wineries in Vienna?

thanks much!

My trip through Austria is so old that my notes wouldn’t be of value any longer. However, I would like to say my trip there is still my number one trip of all time. That is probably due largely to the spontaneity of the trip but it reigns supreme still. Do be flexible.

Wineries to visit are Jamek, FX Pichler, Domane Wachau, Alzinger and Prager.
If you get to Vienna, Steireck is a must. It bested Per Se and Le Bernardin in my mind

Hallstatt is a UNESCO heritage site and well worthy of a side trip to lower your BP 20 pts.

I posted this a while back in response to a similar query–

"We didn’t do any wine tourism in Austria when we were there last September [2010], but we did spend several nights in Muhldorf, a town on the Danube that is very well situated for checking out wineries. We stayed at a refurbished castle called Burg Oberranna, which was extremely nice, and had excellent dinners a couple of nights at Gasthaus Prankl, a nearby spot [in Spitz] with a wonderful list.

If you’re looking for a Vienna hotel idea, you might consider the Hotel Rathaus Wine & Design. We were there four nights and were extremely pleased with the place–nicely located, quiet, and they offer tastings of Austrian wines. The staffers were very, very helpful."

Winemakers: Schmelz, Fx Pichler, Knoll, Hitzberger, Prager, Rudi Pichler …

  • I would not bother the winemakers, I would go direktly to Fohringer wines, where you can taste and buy any of these wines.
    For foodies I would recommend Loibnerhof, Jamek, Holzapfel with dishes from that region.
    Steirereck in Vienna is one of the best restaurants in Austria, Lisl Wagner Bacher in Krems is much closer, with a similar quality .

Have fun [cheers.gif]

Thanks all!

Landhaus Bacher in Mautern has a fabulous restaurant and one of the best wine lists in Austria. The hotel is clean and comfortable, but nothing fancy. The advantage of the hotel is that you can then get reservations at the restaurant.
Hirtzberger is one of my favorite winery visits. If you show you are really interested in wine, rather than just a day tripper from Vienna, they’ll take care of you. Family run, English spoken. It’s difficult to get into Knoll or FX Pichler.
The Loibenerhof in Unterloiben is run by a member of the Knoll family. More rustic food, but excellent. Great selection of Knoll wines.
The Jamek restaurant next to the winery is also very good.
In Vienna, there is a wine shop in the square of St. Stephens cathedral worth visiting. They sometimes have wonderful old vintages of Wachau wines for sale.

Thanks Eric.

Looks like we’ll be staying at Nikolaihof’s guesthouse in Mautern so will definitely book a meal Landhaus Bacher!

so Austria was a great trip…

In Vienna:
Wieninger’s heuriger had good wine, good food, and a more local atmosphere than some touristy spots.
Steirereck: great food, extremely lousy service for a restaurant of its caliber, and a good list - had a beautiful '99 Hirtzberger Rotes Tor Federspiel GV.

In Wachau and around:
Visits to Knoll and Hirtzberger were nice (both easy appointments to make by phone); Nikolaihof does tastings in their tavern with a huge list of wines to pick from; Nigl’s facility, location, and wines are top-notch; Winzer Krems in Krems has an old cellar where I picked up a couple old “birthday” wines.
Landhaus Bacher’s food and service were excellent; picked a '98 Knoll Schutt Riesling Smaragd from its deep list.
Schickh Landgasthof in Klein Wien on Tuesday night (when many places are shuttered) has a beautiful garden and pretty good traditional food cooked by a nephew of Lisl Wagner-Bacher.
A visit to Melk’s monastery is well worth a break from the food and wine.

Rust, on Neusiedler See, an easy drive from either Wachau or Vienna, is a picturesque small town with a plethora of local wineries around to taste.

Budapest, an easy train ride from Vienna, was fantastic: beautiful, faded, energetic, and cheap. Eat at Biarritz (the owner went to high school in CT and really likes Americans) or Costes and try a bottle of Kadarka, which I learned is Hungary’s typical red wine grape - like a beaujolais with a bit of “paprika” as they said (green notes). Drink at a “ruin pub”, the best I found is Szimpla.

Doug,
Sounds like a fun trip.
I like Budapest as well. Sorta a cafe culture, much like I imagine Paris was in the 1920’s.

Thanks for updating. These two places are on the top of my lis to visit.

we were there last month and the service was impeccable.

Jordan,
That has been my experience, too. However, I have read that others have had poor service, which is disappointing. We were last at Steirereck in October and our service was very good, although much less formal than in the past, but another table made quite a fuss about theirs. I am maybe not the most objective observer, as it is one of my favorite restaurants and we have always been well treated.

any of you experienced Austria hands know how by-the-glass pricing for dessert wines in Austrian restaurants works? If you order 1 glass, do they give you a “big pour” and charge you 2x the unit price for a “small pour”?

It’s great to read these notes, it’s just 20 days until my own trip to Austria. With the wonderful help of the Austrian Wine Marketing board, have booked appointments at Kracher, Schandl in Burgenland; Bründlmeyer, Eichinger in Kamstal; Alzinger, F.X. Pichler in Wachau. (In addition to time in Vienna and Salzburg.)

I’ll be photographing and blogging the entire adventure, if you’re interested you can check it out at http://www.iHeartAustria.com and also on FB at Redirecting...

Paul

Don’t miss Prager or Knoll if you can manage them.

I had a chance to go to Steiereck too, and though pretty expensive, the food was good, the bread great and the service astounding— I felt like I was the Kaiser! However, this comes with the caveat that I was dining with Michael Pronay and his lovely wife Catrina, and he knows the folks at Steiereck, especially the Somm, very well.

My last time, he took my dad and I to Eisvogel Restaurant in the Prater. It was a good deal less expensive and just as good food and service. Dad and I also stumbled into a restaurant called Wienere that we both loved. And, for your Schniztel, Figlmullers really is a must-stop, as is Demel for the desserts (forget Sachertorte, Demel is where it’s at).

If you want more details about what to see in Vienna, either of you, PM me.

Mike

Mike, thanks for the tips. Now that I see who Michael Pronay is, that makes a lot of sense.
It looks like your a dragon boater. I just photographed the Portland Dragon Boat races again as the official photographer in September. Paul

My blog is now up and running, please check it out at http://www.iheartaustria.com. I just posted about our visit to Kracher, and more wineries will follow. Also on Facebook at Redirecting.... Thanks for looking and comments are invited! Paul

OK, tickets are booked for the second week of October.

Wien, Hallstatt, Salzburg, and the wine country are a given. Wife is working on the details now. I’ll post the tentative itinerary when I receive clearance for your input.