My comment: For my German (Viennese)-speaking readers. Just a quick note for the others: the “erl” at the end of a word forms the diminutive thereby making each amount sound harmless or at least more harmless than it otherwise would. You’ll notice there is no “erl” on the last one. That’s because it’s “a double”–in other words a two-liter bottle of (usually very acidic and unpleasant) wine.
Tag Archives: wine
What some Viennese choose when they have three wishes
4 MarThis, too, is a side of life in Vienna. The good fairy offers the Viennese man three wishes. First he asks for a soft liver. And then for two more beers.
Heuriger (wine taverns or gardens)
11 OctHow could I miss this? The Wiener Heuriger as an institution was declared “intangible cultural heritage” by UNESCO on Tuesday. Now there’s one cultural institution I’m still supporting regularly. 😁
https://m.facebook.com/oesterreichwein/photos/a.411385460232/10156501926320233/?type=3
The vineyards in Vienna
29 JulVienna is officially the city worldwide with the largest area within city limits devoted to vineyards. Just one of the many reasons I live here! 🙂
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10156858863584665&id=347303004664
And news from another prominent Viennese hotel
14 SepJust a quick note: the Hotel Bristol will be hosting Afternoon Tea with Opera Stars (and, yes, that they’re calling “Afternoon Tea” not “Nachmittagstee”). To celebrate various premieres they are offering a traditional (English, I suppose) afternoon tea with Sekt (or sparkling wine) and a chance to meet (see?) the singers, conductors, and stage directors of the current premiere at the State Opera just across the street.
It costs EUR 49 per person and can be booked by calling +43-1-515 16 555 or by writing to groupsevents.bristol[at]luxurycollection.com. The one of the first opera stars at this Salon Operá is Michael Schade, appearing on 26 September 2014.
Spitting
5 OctI have to confess I had a bit of a headache this morning after tasting at least 10 wines yesterday evening. I know you’re supposed to spit instead of swallow, but when I get a really good wine in my mouth I want to hang onto it. It’s like Oda Mae Brown in “Ghost” after Sam tells her she has to give the check to the nun–and I had no Patrick Swayze to get me to let go.
Wine trip
4 OctI am on my way out of Vienna for the weekend to do one of the things the Viennese like to do on sunny fall weekends. I am going to the Kamptal to enjoy the fresh air and good wine. One thing that has already struck me is how full – and yet quiet – the train is. Lots of people, businesspeople and students alike, commute to Vienna by train and it seems that by midday on Friday they are willing to call it a week and go home. Not such a bad idea, if you ask me.
Making the most of the late summer weather
6 SepWhere does one go in Vienna when the sun is still shining and the temperature is still warm? To the Heurigen (wine tavern), of course. Mylo and I are meeting friends in the beautiful garden at the Dorfschenke in Neustift – and this is what we saw on the way:
🙂
May Day or The Band Played in Tune
1 MayToday is May Day, International Workers’ Day, and a public holiday in Austria among other places. One of the many parades has just passed under my window on its way to City Hall, where there are various celebrations. Because this is Vienna the marching was relaxed and not entirely tidy and the band played musically and in tune.
May Day has a lot to do with Vienna, the city government here being predominantly socialist. There is a lot of red around–flags and flowers and so on–and, true to the apparent Viennese belief that even those who earn less well should be able to enjoy the good things in life, the wine served at the City Hall festivities is decent.
Some things are changing, though. The Social Democrats no longer have an absolute majority in Vienna, as they did for decades. They now govern in a coalition with the Green Party. That may help explain why public transport runs on the usual holiday schedule on May Day rather than not starting until about 2 p.m. as used to be the case, something I found out the hard way my first year in Vienna when I was trying to get to lunch at friends’. (I ended up walking. Luckily, it wasn’t far but I felt I had earned my Schnitzel!)
The People’s Party (Volkspartei (VP), essentially the Conservatives) has its own Fest this coming weekend. Like many things in Austria, the system of providing a “red” option and a “black” option (the color of the VP is black) is alive and well, even if the idea of Proporz–divvying up positions on boards in state-owned industries and other bodies according to who came out on top in the last national elections–is dying out with those same state-owned entities.
ecbinvienna 