Heuriger, derived from the word for ‘today’ but signifying by implication ‘this season’, or ‘the latest’, is an austrian institution whose social dimensions extend far beyond the only weeks-old wine so-described. Emperor Josef II in 1784 formally established the right of Austrian wine growers to dispense their young wines by the glass (along with a rudimentary repast) at establishments whose function was signified by the hanging of bush-like bundles of evergreens over the door, for which reason such an establishment is still referred to within Austria as a Buschenschank. The still-cloudy, often only partially fermented young wine is variously known as Staubiger (‘dusty one’), federweisser, or Sturm (‘storm’). Groups of Heurigen with their rows of tiny press houses at the edge of a village or its vineyards are prevalent throughout the former Hapsburg Empire, but within Austria many of these still double as dispensaries. The institution of Austrian wine taverns transcends those temporarily opened each season to serve the latest vintage by the glass or pitcher. Many of Austria’s top wine estates still run a year-round Heuriger at least on weekends out of economic necessity, sometimes less on account of the direct income than because this is a traditional means of establishing one’s brand and local market niche. The Heurigen of Austria’s thirsty capital Vienna and of the adjacent thermenregion are especially numerous and seasonally frenetic.
