Heuriger

In the well-known wine-growing areas of the city of Vienna (Grinzing, Sievering, Neustift, Liesing) many eating establishments have a rustic interior design similar to Heurige, yet they have a normal licence and sell wine they buy from outside sources.

Over the years well-known areas for Heurigen developed, including Dürnstein, Gainfarn, Gamlitz, Guntramsdorf, Gumpoldskirchen, Grinzing, Königstetten, Langenlois, Mauer, Neustift am Walde, Perchtoldsdorf, Pfaffstätten, Rust, Sievering, Traiskirchen, Tribuswinkel and the Wachau region.

It serves only its own wine, and but a limited selection of food as an evening meal, generally local, homemade products offered as small dishes such as Liptauer spread, various meat or sausage and Semmel combinations, or cheese boards.

As a result, many establishments elsewhere, such as in Vienna, are made to look like Heurigen but in fact are licensed restaurants selling wines from outside sources; these even serve beer and coffee, unthinkable at an authentic Heuriger.

These songs' themes invariably revolve around the quality of the wine, its consumption and consequences, Vienna's beauty, a nostalgic longing for the past, the transience of life, the inevitability of suffering and death at God's will, and, to a somewhat lesser degree, romantic love.

Even trying to honor the Heuriger tradition, music has changed dramatically since performers such as The Third Man sensation Anton Karas earned a living by playing his Zither or Hans Moser sang a Wienerlied from his movies.