Austria

Austria between apricot trees, coffee houses, and Grüner Veltliner

At nur Gutes, we bring together Austrian specialties from Lake Neusiedl to Innsbruck. Grüner Veltliner and Riesling come from the Kamp Valley, Blaufränkisch from Burgenland, and Sauvignon Blanc from Southern Styria. Add to that tomatoes from Frauenkirchen, apricot jam from the Vulkanland region, honey from the Mürz Valley, gingerbread from St. Wolfgang, and soap from the oldest soap factory in the country.

Austrian specialties mean we call them "Paradeiser" instead of tomatoes, "Marillen" instead of apricots, and "Ribisel" instead of redcurrants. The language of our kitchen is right there on the label. From the Pannonian vineyards at Lake Neusiedl, across the steep slopes of Southern Styria, to the salt springs near Hall in Tyrol, we carry wine, preserves, honey, chocolate, and soap. All of them come from producers who proudly write their home location on the bottle.

Schnitzel, dumplings, sweet dishes, and a coffee house to linger in

Viennese cuisine is named after a city, yet it has cooked its way through an entire empire. Goulash came from Hungary, "Powidltascherl" (plum jam pockets) from Bohemia, and schnitzel is pounded from veal and fried golden yellow. The "Tafelspitz" rests in the soup until the apple-horseradish and chive sauce are ready.

Further out, every federal state cooks to its own tune. Carinthia fills cheese noodles with curd and mint, Tyrol roasts "Gröstl" from potatoes and bacon, and Salzburg lets soufflés grow in the oven. Styria drizzles its dark green, protected-origin pumpkin seed oil over runner beans and horseradish, and in Burgenland, peppers and tomatoes ripen in the Pannonian sun.

Things turn sweet with the "Mehlspeis," which fills its own chapter in Austria. "Kaiserschmarrn" comes with plum compote, apricot dumplings from the Wachau, and apple strudel with paper-thin pastry. The oldest known recipe for the Linzer Torte dates back to 1653, and the Sacher Torte was invented by the apprentice Franz Sacher in 1832 for Prince Metternich.

In between lies the coffee house—registered as intangible cultural heritage since 2011—where a "Melange" with a glass of water on a marble table counts as rent for the entire afternoon.

Grüner Veltliner, Blaufränkisch, and a sparkling wine aged on the lees

Nearly one-third of Austrian wine is Grüner Veltliner, the peppery flagship variety of the country. Riesling grows on the terraces of the Wachau, Kremstal, and Kamptal. Among the reds, Zweigelt—a Klosterneuburg hybrid from 1922—leads the way, but the soul of Burgenland is the Blaufränkisch, which the Pannonian climate allows to ripen late.

Southern Styria grows Sauvignon Blanc, Yellow Muscat, and Morillon (as Chardonnay is known there) on slopes with up to ninety percent inclination. Vienna is a capital city with its own vineyards within the city limits. Since the 2013 vintage, its "Gemischter Satz" has carried a protected origin: at least three white varieties, planted together, harvested together, and fermented together. "Sekt Austria" matures for at least nine months on the lees, and the "Große Reserve" for at least 36 months.

At nur Gutes, Heike and Gernot Heinrich from Gols represent Lake Neusiedl with Blaufränkisch and the white "Freyheit" line in clay bottles. Franz Weninger from Horitschon stands for Central Burgenland, and Fred Loimer in Langenlois has been working biodynamically since 2006, aging his sparkling wine all the way to the "Große Reserve."

From Southern Styria come Andreas and Alexander Sattler in Sernau near Gamlitz and the Wohlmuth winery from Kitzeck in the Sausal. Gregor and Claudia Nimmervoll come from the Wagram region, Leo Uibel and Herbert Zillinger from the Weinviertel, and from Vienna, Fritz Wieninger with his Gemischter Satz from the Nussberg.

Tomatoes from Frauenkirchen and black walnuts from the Vulkanland

Erich Stekovics grows tomatoes, peppers, and chilies in Frauenkirchen on Lake Neusiedl. His seed archive includes around 3,200 tomato varieties and 600 chili varieties. Everything is harvested, cleaned, and canned by hand, together with his wife Priska and his sister Erni. The tomato tartare, cocktail wild tomatoes, and black walnuts are among the most ordered jars on this site.

In Walkersdorf near Ilz, the Fink family in the Styrian Vulkanland preserves whatever their fruit and vegetable gardens yield. Wolfgang Hackl from the Weinviertel supplies the apricots; green walnuts become "black nuts," and plums become a compote for the Kaiserschmarrn. The apricot jam from Fink's Delikatessen is a breakfast staple, and the redcurrant-onion chutney goes perfectly with cheese.

Anton Neber, a master beekeeper since 2002, produces single-varietal organic honey in Sankt Lorenzen in the Mürz Valley with his Carnica bees—from acacia, linden, and sunflower to sweet chestnut and forest. In his private honey cellar, he refines acacia honey with Bourbon vanilla or forest berries.

Gingerbread comes from St. Wolfgang in the Salzkammergut, where Barbara and Fritz Gandl bake at the market square and let the honey dough mature for about two months. Hansjörg Haag crafts chocolate in Landeck using milk from Tyrolean Grey cattle, and Christine and Hubert Berger have been filling bars with raspberry-curd or whiskey-orange in Lofer since 1994.

Alpine scents in the bath, salt in clay pots, honey as a souvenir

The Walde soap factory has been operating in Innsbruck since 1777, making it Austria’s oldest soap maker. With Therese Fiegl, the Tiroler Reine line was born, featuring ten alpine scents ranging from stone pine and hay to alpine rose, alpine speik, glacier milk, and cowslip. The shape of the soaps comes from artist Martin Walde and designer Lisa Walde.

The cowslip deo cream and the stone pine liquid soap are at the top of this page. For the kitchen, Johanna Jenewein in Hall in Tyrol hand-skims alpine salt and fleur de sel from pure brine, filling it into small ceramic pots, either pure or with herbs.

A gift with Austrian specialties therefore smells of stone pine. A piece of stone pine soap from Innsbruck, a small pot of stone pine salt from Hall, a jar of forest honey from the Mürz Valley, and a bar of chocolate with alpine rose honey from Landeck, wrapped in brown paper—that will comfort anyone feeling homesick after a mountain vacation.

Dry farming by the lake, cooking apprenticeship in the Vulkanland, steep slopes in Sernau

Erich Stekovics, born in 1966, studied theology and taught religion before taking over his father’s farm at the end of 1999. Since 2003, no tomato on his fields has received any water, because the roots search deeper and the fruit tastes more intense when no one waters them. "Watering is the worst thing you can do to tomatoes," says Erich, the only vegetable farmer in Austria who leaves his tomatoes to grow outdoors in this way.

Bettina Fink-Haberl trained as a chef and founded her gourmet kitchen in 2002 with the support of vinegar maker Alois Gölles. Her husband Hans Peter was head chef at the Hotel Sacher in Vienna, and their son Hans-Peter is the only one in the family to have completed the apprenticeship as a fruit and vegetable preserver. Their daughter Nina was introduced as one of Austria's youngest sommelières.

At the Sattlerhof in Sernau near Gamlitz stands a house from 1866, and in 1966, Wilhelm Sattler Senior vinified a white wine that was unusually dry for the time. Today, Andreas and Alexander run the winery, Hannes the hotel, Markus the kitchen, and on 33 hectares with about 120,000 vines, everything is done exclusively by hand. The chapel vineyard is located at almost 600 meters, and in winter, up to fifty sheep keep the grass short.

From apricot July to gingerbread Advent

Austrian specialties follow the calendar of farmers, winemakers, and gingerbread bakers. In spring, wild garlic goes into the pesto; in July, the apricots ripen, and a Yellow Muscat belongs cold on the terrace. In autumn, the wine taverns serve "Sturm" (new wine), and Blaufränkisch is opened to go with game. Advent belongs to the gingerbread from St. Wolfgang, the baked apple in the Christmas chocolate, and the plum compote on the Kaiserschmarrn.

Specialties from Austria can be given as a picnic package full of delicacies with paprika, chutney, and black walnuts, or as a wine package with Grüner Veltliner, Sauvignon Blanc, and Blaufränkisch. For New Year’s Eve, a sparkling wine from Langenlois does the trick, and for Mother’s Day, soap from Innsbruck. What we have already packed can be found under Gifts, and our neighbors can be found in the overview of Regions.

The next border is only an Inn (river) wide, because in the Germany collection, Riesling, Printen, and Solingen knives are waiting, and South Tyrol has its own page just past the Brenner pass. Whoever writes "Tomaten" when ordering will get "Paradeiser" anyway.