My partner and I are doing a short holiday end of this month with a few days in Vienna (with two other friends) and then the rest of time in Bratislava (and potentially other parts of Slovakia). Looking for two main bits of advice:
We’d like to do a wine tasting (guided if possible) as a four in Vienna that introduces us to a wide variety of Austrian wines. I am a bit of a wine geek and one of my friends lives in Chile and has encountered many a vineyard over there (!) but the other two are not as geeky about it all. When I previously asked for advice here about Vienna someone suggested Zum Weissen Rauchfangkehrer which I didn’t get to visit, but will be on the list this time. We’d also be interested in doing a vineyard visit and cellar tasting near the city, but not a Heuriger style as we’ve all done that before.
Any suggestions of vineyards or destinations within western and central Slovakia to visit? My partner and I are happy to travel somewhere if it feels worth it as we’re in Slovakia for 8 days.
We had a great trip to Slovakia a few years ago. You don’t say if you’ve been before but it’s a very attractive country - quite rural and of course mountainous.
If you happen to find yourself in Liptovský Mikuláš check out Victoria Wine Shop. I liked it so much I left a review.
when in Vienna I’d have a look at the several producers of Gemischter Satz as that typifies the Viennese style (though of course you’re not far from Krems and the Wachau) - the wineries tend to be at the bottom of the hills but you can drive up to see the vineyards as part of the trip.
The Godfather of Gemischter Satz is, of course, Fritz Wieninger on 31 Stammersdorf street and the winery has a tasting room and welcomes walk-ins. In fact when we went, Fritz himself was in there, sweeping up, and was happy to drop everything and do a tasting with us. https://www.wieninger.at
When we went to Slovakia I found it quite hard work finding decent places to visit; the pick of the bunch was undoubtedly Karpatska Perla in Senkvice. https://www.karpatskaperla.sk
I am in Vienna right now, and have been here many times. All my suggestions are in the old city centre, not in the vineyards.
For tasting I recommend Wein & Co, they have multiple outlets in Vienna, I have visited the ones on Schottenring and Stephansplatz. They are a bar / shop combination, and offer tasting portions of 1/16 or 1/8th. They also offer upmarket finger food to go along with the wines. You get a voucher for 10% of your bar spent to use in the shop. You can also drink any bottle from their shop in the bar for a small corkage fee. https://www.weinco.at/
Zum Weissen Rauchfangkehrer is an upmarket local restaurant with great local food and a very good wine and spirits list but I would not consider it for tasting multiple wines, and it is not cheap.
Kornat is a great fish restaurant, and has a fantastic wine list, especially Croatian wines, but I also spottet 2 bottles of Petrus on their wine list when we dined there yesterday if that is your thing… You can view their wine list online.
Magazin is a wine merchant / restaurant combination and more affordable than the others. The friendly sommelier made some good suggestions for wines to go with our classic Viennese food. They have a very good selection of Austrian wines on the wine list but also a nice Italian selection especially super tuscans. You can view both their shop and restaurant wine lists online.
01438 741177
