We didn’t have much planned for Saturday, so we took advantage of that luxury and slept in.  After walking around town a bit we took a tram up to Stammersdorf to experience some authentic heurigers (a Austrian wine tavern where wine-growers serve the most recent year’s wine). There are plenty of districts in Vienna with heurigers but we read in several spots that the one furthest out was going to give us the best experience. Considering that almost no one spoke any English, I think we got our wish. Thankfully, Eric was on point with his German, so we managed to get our point across with little trouble.

come on in and drink some wine!

After receiving the first round, it became clear that we were never going to make it to all the places I had mapped out…

Above is a photo of the mugs of wine we were served at Heuriger Wieninger. The heurigen (or new wine) was light, slightly spritzy and very easy to drink. In fact, many of the older folks (so, pretty much everyone else in the tavern at 3pm) ordered new wine spritzers. Eventually, I also ordered a spinach and cheese pastry to add something else to my belly. The atmosphere was relaxed and casual, not unlike a pub, but the only thing on the menu was their own wine. Eric’s note: Leandra also ordered a red wine, which came out in a standard wine glass along with a decanter. Turns out everything they serve is large…

I convinced Eric to try one more place before heading back into Vienna, so we visited Haus Schmidt Heuriger closer to the tram stop. Here we tried the rotwein (red) and weißer (white) and once again, a mere 2 Euros got us 0.25L of wine each. For those slow at metrics that would be 1/3 of a bottle!

I wanted these wine glasses but we couldn’t figure out how to ask about buying them (in our limited German) and frankly, weren’t sure they would even survive the trip home.

On the journey out of town, we were surprised at how urban Vienna stayed a good half hour from the city center. Stammersdorf is the last stop on Tram 31, and this scene was more of what we expected… quiet streets, colorful houses and private courtyards.

We thought the wine was better at the first place, but didn’t try the heurigen at the second place, so it’s difficult to fairly compare the two. Ultimately it was nice to escape the bustle of the city for an afternoon and experience something uniquely Austrian.