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.

What you actually see

• 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.

Honest expectations

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.