Why Rick Steves Can't Recommend Vienna's Wine Country Enough
By Jenna Busch
VACATIONS
Sipping wine in a Viennese wine garden sounds like a dream, but many other tourists have the same idea. To escape crowds, Rick Steves suggests visiting Nussdorf, or "nut village."
Nussdorf is about 30 minutes outside of the city center. The gardens here are Heuriger, meaning their vintages come from recently harvested grapes from their own vineyards.
These vintages are fairly tart and can be ordered as a "viertel," a quarter of a liter that comes in a mug glass, or an "achtel," which is half of that and comes in a wine glass.
There is a map of many of the wine gardens on a wall at Kahlenberger Strasse. Steves recommends trying Heuriger Mayer am Pfarrplatz, where Beethoven once lived.
The area itself is relaxing as well. As Steves says, "The pace of life here is slow [...] Chatting with friends at a wine garden is not a special event but a way of life."