Grinzing

Grinzing was a wine village on the slopes north-west of Vienna and was swallowed by the city in 1892, but the vineyards on the hills above it are still worked - Vienna is the only major capital with commercial winegrowing inside its boundaries, several hundred hectares of it. The Heuriger is the institution: under a decree of Joseph II from 1784, growers may sell their own wine from their own premises, and the sign that a place is open is a bush or pine branch hung over the door, the Buschen. Food is cold, self-service and by weight from a counter. Beethoven stayed in the area repeatedly and the Beethoven walk runs up the Nussdorf side. Grinzing's own Heurigen are the most visited and the most commercialised; the ones in Neustift, Nussdorf and Stammersdorf are quieter.

History

The name, first written Grinzigan in 1114, means the people of a man called Grinzo, and in the 11th century the village belonged to the Grunzinger family, who built the Trummelhof, said to stand on Roman ruins, its remains still in the house at Cobenzlgasse 30. Vintners and day labourers working for monasteries and rich Viennese lived here, and after the last of the Grunzinger was buried in 1350 the village came under Klosterneuburg Monastery, which held it into the 19th century; the church of the Holy Cross was built in 1426. Matthias Corvinus laid it waste in 1484, the Ottomans in 1529 and again in 1683, fire struck in 1604 and the plague of 1713 killed 129 people, so it grew slowly, from 70 houses in 1713 to 209 houses and 1,421 people in 1890, and in 1892 it became part of Vienna (Wikipedia, Grinzing).

What to look for

• Working vineyards in a capital - the hills above the village still planted.
• The Buschen over the door - the pine branch marking an open Heuriger.
• Self-service cold food - the counter by weight that goes with the wine.
• Beethoven's ground - the walk and the houses he took in the area.

When to go

April to October; evenings, especially in autumn for the new wine. An evening.

What to expect

Grinzing itself is the tourist end of the Heuriger world - coach parties, accordion music and set menus. For the real version go to Neustift, Nussdorf or over the Danube to Stammersdorf.

Nearby

Kahlenberg and Leopoldsberg are above; the Vienna Woods run west.

Key facts