Uhudler

When phylloxera destroyed European vineyards in the late nineteenth century, growers in southern Burgenland replanted with American vines and direct-producer hybrids rather than grafting European varieties onto American roots, and the wine those vines make is Uhudler - light, pink to red, with a distinct wild strawberry and blackcurrant character called the foxy note that comes from the American parentage. Austrian and EU rules restricted or banned its production and sale for much of the twentieth century, partly on quality grounds and partly on a since-discredited claim that it caused blindness or madness, and it survived as a semi-legal farm drink before being permitted again in stages. Heiligenbrunn, with its cluster of thatched straw-roofed cellars, is the centre, and the Buschenschanken there serve it with cold plates.

The main sights

• A wine from American hybrid vines - the replanting after phylloxera, never grafted.
• The foxy note - wild strawberry and blackcurrant from the American parentage.
• A long ban - restricted for decades on grounds later discredited.
• Heiligenbrunn's thatched cellars - the straw-roofed press-houses where it is served.

When to go

All year; autumn for the new wine. A meal.

Before you go

It divides opinion sharply - the foxy character reads as artificial to many drinkers. Buschenschanken open by rota, so check. Southern Burgenland is remote and needs a car.

Nearby

Güssing castle is north; the Hungarian and Slovenian borders are close.