While David and I have been traveling around Europe with our spouses, we’ve been inspecting as many luxury hotels as possible, taking familiarization tours around each city, and taste-testing the bars and restaurants along the way. Our first stop was Vienna. While David has written up his review of the luxury hotels in Vienna, I thought I would catalog our fantastic dining experiences.
On our first night in Vienna, we were treated to a perfect kick-off dinner at Dstrikt (Thank you to our hosts at the Ritz-Carlton Vienna!) Dstrikt features a contemporary menu with strong ties to traditional Viennese cuisine. The Wiener Schnitzel was the best I’ve ever tried, and the menu features home-cooked specialties from the chef’s Grandmother’s recipe box; I loved the rustic dumplings! While we enjoyed the local specialties, Tristan, the restaurant manager, guided us through tasting some of his favorite Austrian wines. The highlights for me were the Kollwentz 2011 Steinmuhle, the Wieninger 2011 Pinot Noir, and the unique Zieser Edelfeingrand, a perfect finish to our dinner!
For something a little more rustic than a Relais & Chateaux restaurant, we also wanted to try some Viennese street food, so after our tour of the Hotel Sacher Wien and our much anticipated “battle of the tortes” chocolate cake tasting, we headed to a Würstelstand for some Käsekrainer – delish!
One of my top wish list items for this trip was to visit a Heuriger, an authentic neighborhood wine tavern. These restaurants are popular for serving the current seasons’ wine, and, as I quickly learned, Austrians are fond of young wines. Visiting in late September, we were in prime young harvest and “Sturm” season! So, off we went to Gumpoldskirchen to visit Altes Zechhaus, a Heuriger operated by the family Krug since 1549. The Pinot Noir was excellent and paired perfectly with the white and red Hungarian-style mushroom goulash, black pudding, and venison!
And, if you’re looking for a tremendous Austrian wine-tasting experience, you must visit the Loisium in Langenlois. This was the best vineyard experience I have ever had! We took a short tour of the Design Hotel and a sunny morning walk through the ripe Grüner Veltliner vines. Then, we headed to the vineyard for a tasting experience. The tour was whimsical and lighthearted, and the Steininger wines at the end were fantastic (this tour deserves its blog post!). Austrian wine is rarely exported, so overseas visitors should take the rare opportunity to shop, and the vineyard can help arrange shipping to the US.
Back in Vienna, we planned to spend our last night at the St. Charles Church for a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. For our pre-concert dinner, we tried the Gasthaus Pöschl, a cozy neighborhood spot that was a crowd-pleaser. Pumpkin soup is a seasonal favorite we encountered at almost every restaurant in Austria and Germany, but it was best at the Gashaus Pöshel! And after several meals with wine, it was time to taste some Wiener beer. The Zwickelbier hit the spot!
Our three nights in Vienna went by way too fast, and there are still so many restaurants and vineyards that I want to explore. I am already planning a return trip!
