Heurigen (Wine Taverns)

For an authentically local Austrian experience, make your way to one of Vienna’s traditional Heurigen wine taverns. These rustic establishments let you sample the year’s new wines alongside hearty regional cuisine.

What is a Heurigen? Heurigens are casual, down-to-earth wine taverns run by local winemakers. They can only serve their own recently produced wines during specific months known as the Aussteckungszeit.

The Wines At a Heurigen, you’ll drink remarkably fresh Gemischter Satz wines – field blends featuring a variety of grape varieties like Grüner Veltliner, Riesling and Zweigelt grown locally. The young, unfiltered wines have a vibrancy unlike exported bottled wines.

The Experience
Most Heurigens are located in vine-covered Heurigens in the outlying Viennese wine villages like Grinzing, Neustift and Mauer. Dine outdoors at long, communal tables while live music plays. The lively ambiance encourages mingling with strangers over robust platters of cheese, cold cuts, schnitzel and sturm (partially fermented grape juice).

Top Heurigens Some of Vienna’s most respected Heurigens include Fuhrgassl-Huber, Mayer am Pfarrplatz, Vollker’s Heurigen and Kierlinger. Most open around 4pm and have no printed menus – you get whatever is being served that day.

Casual, jovial and authentic, a night at a Heurigen is about as traditionally Viennese as it gets. Follow the rule of “gemütlichkeit” – leaving your cares behind to relax in good company over simple pleasures of food, drink and conviviality.