September in Vienna is a month with Most & Sturm

If you are lucky and visit Vienna during September or October you might want to experience some very local tradition.

During those months the grapes growing around Vienna's vineyards enter their last days of existence.

They are picked by hand and pressed and as a result you will have a delicious Most. 

This word derives from the latin MUSTUM, meaning young wine. 

As this young wine consists of natural yeast, a chemical process starts, depending on the storage temperature, quicker or controlled and slower (eg in the fridge)

Glucose and fructose are seperated into alcohol and carbonic acid. The result is a sweet, slightly alcoholic and sparkling grape juice, with yeast particles and therefore cloudy

As soon as the alcohol indicates to be at 1% this easy-to-drink-juice becomes a Sturm. You will notice that the alcohol raises quickly to 4%. This is the moment, where Sturm is allowed to be sold in Austria.

The sweetness makes place the alcohol and now it is not only a healthy beverage, but also an alcoholic one. The alcohol will continue to raise and reaching the 11%mark indicates the start of wine production.

The word Sturm (exact translation mean storm) describes the cloudy yeast particles which have a constact chemical reaction if you storage the beverage in a warm place. Therefore never ever close a bottle of Sturm! It will explode within some hours!

Enjoy the Most or Sturm with good, traditional viennese food - visit a vineyard around Vienna to experience these unique feeling of a fresh and healthy, natural drink!

If you explore Austria's countryside we highly recommend Styria in this time of the year. Wine lovers will enjoy the vineyards and the different tastes of the new wines!

The first 5 days of November

Some days ago we welcomed November, as you did as well certainly ... wherever you are in the world.

So what did you do? Did you celebrate? Did you party? Did you grieve for somebody? Have you been scared? Did you fire rockets?

Now, depending on where you live, it might have been a different outcome.

In Vienna we started off with the newly celebrated habit of Halloween. Trick'n'treat has found it's way to our capital. But apart from small children, who have mistaken this tradition with Fasching, the "Viennese way of Carneval", nobody really favours to dress up spooky.

Shops love it, as they can do a proper decoration and pumpkin sellers are able to sell the biggest pumkins nowadays. In the Kindergarden traditional pumpkin candle making is a nice crafts adventure.

Although the Celts did pass through Vienna, their celtic Samhain tradition did not make it into the hearts of Austrian people.

And you will find no creativity with bloody and half-alive costumed people, no corpse-like dressed ladies and no Draculas will be found en masse. No haunted acitivites, no ghost appearances in the old palaces or manor houses.
In London this evening is one more time a great occasion for party and drinking time and of course THE evening for all ghosts - and believe me, they are there, in England!

So on a 31st of October don't expect anything special in Vienna - apart from our cultural evening scene!

The 1st of November is The All Hallow's Day or All Saints Day which has been adopted by the catholic church to be THE day for remembering their many holy people. And this day is not only a public holiday in Vienna, but tradition has it, that people use this day and the following one to visit all their once-beloved ones, the ones beneath the surface!

So expect huge traffic congestions all around the cementaries and graveyards. It also will be difficult to find anything else in a flower shop than wreaths.

And logically there are no bonfire nights like in London, where on the 5th of November, Guy Fawkes, the first British terrorist, is remembererd with lots of fireworks around this day. Maybe you can recall it: that was the guy who wanted to blow op the british parliament ... in 1605. By the way .... some linguists think that the word "guy" derives from Guy Fakes!

Remember, remember the fifth of November,

Gunpowder treason and plot.

We see no reason

Why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot!

Sorry, Vienna cannot offer such tradition, but believe me, November is a wonderful month in Vienna: traditional Martinmas Goose, Opening of Carneval Season and Opening of Christmas Markets all well mixed with yellowish falling leaves
Read more in my upcoming post!

Hurry up - November is almost sold out at bluedanube apartments! few nights left!