The last of the summer wine…in Mailberg
Walking in this time of the year in the wine district reminds me of the BBC series “The last of the summer wine” when I was in my 20ties and still living in Belgium. It was a comedy about old man having their little adventures in the autumn of their years on the romantic english countryside. Receiving the BBC programs in original was a pleasant way to learn english. Sometimes I think that this great opportunity to see and hear everything on television in original may be the big reason the Belgians have this language tick. Today we drove from Mistelbach an der Zaya to Mailberg (about 45 minutes drive). The market municipality Mailberg is a well-known wine growing village, embedded in a valley basin and surrounded by vineyards. 
The 3 romantic cellar lanes with their well-tended press houses and cellars accommodate some of the typical regional wines and are open for tastings and shopping possibilities. The ancient rooms of the castle provide for a guest house. We walked on the “Weinwanderweg” (green signs to follow) starting from the winery Hagn, where we parked our car. The winery Hagn is a surprisingly modern wine lodge in the middle of the vineyards, with a very contemporary architecture. In the restaurant we had a good meal accompanied with a wine selection of house wines.
www.hagn-weingut.at/weindomizil
Continue Reading Add comment November 7th, 2010
On this golden October day we drove to the south of Vienna in another Wine District in Lower Austria : The Thermenregion. We took the direction Graz and left the motorway in Wiener Neudorf and drove to Gumpoldskirchen. (It took us about an hour from Mistelbach an der Zaya by car)
This afternoon we decided to repeat a trip that we did on Easter Sunday this year. I remember to enjoy the first spring sun than. It was sunny again today (maybe one of the last warm days before the cold comes). The walk starts on the market square of Retz. In October almost every weekend there is a wine tasting going on on this place. You just follow the signs “Windmühle” and you will find yourself passing a romantic church, the backyard of the Hotel Retzerhof, some Heuriger and at last you will stand in the middle of the vinyards of Retz, where the windmill appears in front of you. On top of the hill, there is another winery where we had a glass of white wine from the region.On our way to Retz (coming from Laa an der Thaya) we met a lot of trucks full of grapes as it is harvest time now. The region of Retz is also well known for his pumpkins. We passed fields full of orange-green pumpkins ready to pick.
After being forced to stop working (illness) Brigitta Pertschy discovered the art of making liqueurs with the fruits and herbs from her own garden. The production is limited as the label says: “Brigittas limited editions”. Because of the pureness she offers high quality liqueurs and sirups. To have an idea have a look at her website: 
Yesterday I saw a very nice Film from Alfred Vendl about the Wine District on national Television (ORF 2) . ORF offers a selection of his programs as video on demand.
