Austria is one of those wine regions that when you go there you think “why didn’t I come here before?” Not only has it excellent wines, both white and red but it has beautiful scenery too. A good place to start is Vienna that is not far from most of the Austrian wine regions. We’ll come back to the Austrian wines some other time. This time lets focus on the fun in the city.
It’s all Julia’s fault.
Julia (Sevenich) is an American wine writer living in Austria. If she wasn’t around fewer people would read about Austrian wines and fewer people would come and visit the wine regions. And I wouldn’t be writing this article. Because this article is entirely based on Julia’s recommendations of the best wine bars in Vienna (so this is an unapologetic and shameless borrowing from a friend).
Vienna is really the perfect place to start when you want to discover the Austrian wine regions. It is easy to get there. It is a modest-sized capital — you can easily get around the city centre on foot. It is close the wine regions. And there are lots of restaurants and wine bars to prepare you for the discoveries in the wine country. So let’s get to it. Here is the first part of Julia’s — and Ruth’s and Silvia’s — selection of Viennese wine bars:
Vis-a-Vis: a small, unpretentions and easy-to-miss wine bar very close to the St. Stephan’s Cathedral. www.weibel.at, Wollzeile 5 / Durchgang
Zum schwarzen Kameel: At the Black Camel’s. A traditional art nouveau wine bar with a long history. www.kameel.at, Bognergasse 5.
Wein & Co Bar: A modern-design lunch time haunt for office people and a wine bar/restaurant in the evening. www.weinco.at, Jasomirgottstraße 3-5
Meinl’s Weinbar: Meinl am Gramen is an extrordinary food shop that also has a wine bar. www.meinlamgraben.at, on the Graben street/square.
Sacher Eck: A wine bar in the famous Sacher Hotel (you know, the Sacher Torte!). www.sacher.com, Philharmonikerstraße 4
Unger & Klein: More relaxed, “bottle shop turned wine bar”, with an extensive selection. Still in the centre. www.ungerundklein.at, Gölsdorfgasse 2
Tinto Rosso: a small wine bar and vinothek. www.tintorosso.at, Dr. Karl Luegerplatz 4b
Harry’s Time: Recently opened more trendy haunt. Modern and elegant design. www.harrys-time.at, Dr. Karl Lueger Platz 5
Badenschiff: Yes, it’s a boat (“the swimming boat” — bring you swim suit), now run by a very skilled chef. www.badeschiff.at
Unfortunately I have not tried all these – only some of them. So the next time I will be in Vienna I will have some busy evenings!
All the credits for the discoveries go to Julia Sevenich who wrote about these wine bars in Viennese Wein Bars Part I, a girls’ night out, and to her two night life guides Ruth Havel and Sylvia Petz who apparently also have the time (apart from going to wine bars) to run the PR and event company havel & petz. Thank you!
I am looking forward to Part II — and to next time I’ll be in Vienna!
And yes, in case you wondered, BKWine also organises wine tours to Austrian wine regions! At the time of writing only custom wine tours to Austria, but we may put it on our tour schedule in the future. Should we?
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