vienna austria natural wine guide

If one were to write an article about the best cities in the world to drink natural wine, itโ€™s easy to guess which places would top the list. But shift the subject to most exciting or most interesting, and you couldnโ€™t tell the story without Vienna.

Austria has a rich history of wine production, albeit one thatโ€™s still tainted by the scandal-plagued 1980s, when a number of producers were discovered to be adulterating their wines with dangerous chemicals. Perhaps itโ€™s fitting that Austrian wineโ€™s recent popularity has been spurred on by a new generation of vignerons who practice organic, biodynamic farming and low intervention in the cellar.

As Austriaโ€™s capital and largest city, thereโ€™s no better place to drink Austrian natural wine than Vienna. From trendy bistros to principled bottle shops, natural wine lovers in Vienna are spoiled for choice. Even most grocery stores stock a couple of Demeter-certified options. Although thereโ€™s perhaps no better place to enjoy natural wine in Vienna than on the banks of the Danube with a few friends (BYOW), the following places are essential stops while in Vienna.

vienna austria natural wine guide

O Boufรฉs

โ€œWe only sell wines from producers that we really know. Itโ€™s really a relationship to each farmer,โ€ says Dominik Ginzinger, manager and sommelier at O Boufรฉs (who has since stepped down as Wine Director), a wine bistro in Viennaโ€™s historic First District. Itโ€™s an exacting standard, but one made possible by Viennaโ€™s location in the heart of Central Europe and Ginzingerโ€™s extensive relational network. By car, Vienna is only an hour from Austriaโ€™s Burgenland regionโ€”ground zero for the countryโ€™s nascent natural wine community. Expand that perimeter another hour, and one could visit vignerons in Slovakia, Hungary, or even Czech Republic.

Before overseeing the wine list at O Boufรฉs, Ginzinger received more conventional sommelier training. โ€œI learned all of the things that I donโ€™t like,โ€ says Ginzinger. โ€œHow a wine should be and a region should taste.โ€

When the opportunity came along to manage Michelin-starred chef Konstanin Filippouโ€™s new bistro, Ginzinger jumped at the chance to curate an all-natural wine list. โ€œWe were the first wine bar in Vienna to do that,โ€ says Ginzinger.

My first evening at O Boufรฉs, I donโ€™t have a reservation, but they squeeze me in at the bar. I start with Rosรฉ Sekt from Franz Strohmeir. This Champagne-method sparkling wine is made from old vines of Blauer Wildbacher and shows remarkable complexity and fruit. It sets a high bar for my first glass in Vienna.

Ginzinger works directly with vignerons to get O Boufรฉs-exclusive cuvรฉes, such as a special bottling of Judith Beckโ€™s Bambule Blaufrรคnkisch. The wine is light and playful, served chilled. Black fruits dominate the palate, but peppery tannins, a trademark of the grape, round things out for a slightly more serious wine than your typical summer glou glou.

On my second visit to O Boufรฉs Iโ€™m lucky enough to arrive on the release night for Birdscape, a โ€œpink macerationโ€ of Pinot Noir and Blaufrรคnkisch from cult Burgenland producer Christian Tschida. โ€œHe doesnโ€™t like the term โ€˜rosรฉโ€™,โ€ says Ginzinger. I happen to love rosรฉ, but tasting the bright ruby-colored juice, I can understand why Tschida avoids the term. The wine is light and refreshing, but with a backbone that seems to defy the color.

โ€œWe still have a lot of work to do. We still have to wake up the people and bring more the natural wine philosophy to the guest,โ€ says Ginzinger. โ€œThe beautiful thing of it is. Our guests are bringing their friends now.โ€

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O Boufรฉs is located at Dominikanerbastei 17, 1010 Wien. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

 

vienna austria natural wine guide

MAST Weinbistro

Perhaps everything you need to know about MAST Weinbistro is captured by the empty bottles of Piere Overnoy and Domaine Clos Rougeard that line the walls. The food and wine selection is serious, but the vibes are effortlessly casual. A business lunch, a romantic date, a late night outโ€”all feel equally appropriate here.

Vienna is experiencing a heatwave when I visit, and in a city where no one has or appears to want air conditioning, itโ€™s hard to get a break from the heat. Luckily, the summer menu at MAST Weinbistro is perfectly attuned to the weather. A light salad of greens, pickled fish, and goat cheese pairs perfectly with Le Chenin dโ€™Ailleurs from Francois Chidaine. Itโ€™s everything I hope for from a Loire Valley Chenin (in this case Limoux): bright, floral, mineral. Chidaine is something of a legend, with farming practices that go beyond your typical natural vigneron, such as not tilling the soil.

As MAST owner Matthias Pitra fills my glass, I mention that I am trying to stick to Austrian wines while I was in Vienna, but I couldnโ€™t resist ordering Chenin in this heat. Pitra silently slips away and soon returns with a bottle of Herbert Zillingerโ€™s โ€œWeintalried,โ€ a crisp, mineral Grรผner Veltliner that proves to give the Chidaine a run for its money.

As wonderful as the wines are, for me, the gazpacho steals the show: pureed, with a light, airy texture but a remarkable depth of flavor.

โ€œItโ€™s only soup,โ€ says Pitra. But his smile betrays a playful confidence.

MAST Weinbistro is located at Porzellangasse 53, 1090 Wien. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

 

vienna austria natural wine guide

Vinifero

I find that natural winemakers can broadly be lumped into two categories: (1) brand-savvy vignerons with photogenic bottles and well-managed social media accounts and (2) off-the-grid anarchists whose primitive labels reveal certain luddite tendencies that carry over into the winemaking. While there are many places to find the former, Vinifero is a great place to find the latter.

Walking into Vinifero feels a bit like walking into some Western saloon, perhaps lifted from a Sergio Leone film. Well suited for wine storage, the interior is cool and dark, with nary a ray of natural light to spoil a bottle. To the left, a long wooden bar doubles as the cash box. More likely than not, owner Enrico Bachechi has an open bottle or two to offer tastes to customers.

The selection at Vinifero is Italian-centric, with an emphasis on Bachechiโ€™s native Tuscany. Bachechi is still involved in Italy, working with domaines to establish better biodynamic practices in the vineyard.

In addition to a small but intentional selection of Austrian wines, expect lesser-known producers from Slovakia, Czech Republic, and even Vermont. Overwhelmed by so many options, I opt to play it safe, mostly picking up bottles from producers I already know, such as Slovakiaโ€™s Strekov and Spainโ€™s Partida Creus.

As I check out, Bachechi confides that one of his biggest challenges is trying to sell red wine in Vienna. Austria is known primarily for white wine, and local consumption is dominated by Austriaโ€™s most popular grape: Grรผner Veltliner. Bachechi meets the demand for Grรผner Veltliner with a house white, sold in a refillable liter bottle. Each bottle has a unique, hand-drawn label.

I on the other hand, have no reservations about red wine, and a real highlight from my haul at Vinifero proves to be Bandita, a 100% Barbera cuvรฉe from Piemonteโ€™s Cascina Tavjin. At 14.5% alcohol, itโ€™s a big, serious wine, but a lively acidity and slight effervescence keep it refreshing and dangerously moreish.

Vinifero is located at Gumpendorfer Str. 36, 1060 Wien. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

 

vienna austria natural wine guide

Vinonudo

Tucked between an assortment of camera shops on WestbahnstraรŸe, Vinonudo is a natural wine-only bottle shop. If Vinifero is pub-like with its wooden bar and dim lighting, Vinonudo feels more like a gallery: sparse, clean lines, and well lit.

Again, Italy dominates the line up, with producers as esteemed as Radikon taking up the lionโ€™s share of the long wall. Those searching for Austrian wines will not be disappointed either.

Missing are many of the producers best known outside of Austriaโ€”Strohmeir, Christian Tschida, Gut Oggau. (Admittedly, Gut Oggau is widely available in Viennaโ€”even museum gift shops stock them.) But I was thrilled to find a whole row dedicated to third generation Burgundland vignerons Alexander and Maria Koppitsch.

Wine writer Marissa Ross has called Koppitschโ€™s wines โ€œdrinkable but thinkable,โ€ and itโ€™s hard to think of a better description. I enjoy all of the wines from Koppitsch I pick up, but the highlight is โ€œPretty Nats,โ€ a sparkling rosรฉ thatโ€™s a 50/50 blend of Blaufrรคnkisch and Syrah. The wine looks, and tastes, like fizzy peach tea: the perfect summer aperitif.

On the still side, a bottle of Homok, a blend of Grรผner Veltliner, Sauvignon Blanc, and Weissburgunder, literally had me coming back for another bottle. Koppitsch ferments the three varieties separately before they are blended unfined and unfiltered with no sulfur. The wine is a cloudy peach color. Certainly, the distinct varietal characteristics shine through, but the result is more than a sum of its part. Versatile and balanced, this is a wine that pairs with practically everything, but doesnโ€™t need anything to be enjoyed.

Vinonudo is located at WestbahnstraรŸe 30, 1070 Wien. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.