Call for help from Vienna

“This is how the Heurigen culture is being destroyed”

The winegrowers with former district councillor Hansjörg Schimanek (center) and the chairman of the winegrowers' association Leopold Klager (right)

(Bild: Groh Klemens)

Pandemic, parking stickers, price hikes, energy crisis - the wine taverns in the north of Vienna are battling multiple crises and high sales losses. They are calling on the city to back up its commitment to Heurigen culture with action.

If you walk through Vienna's city center, you will see full bars and pub gardens. On the outskirts of the city, however, the situation is different. "We don't have the great public transport links," explains Leopold Klager, chairman of the Stammersdorf winegrowers' association. And since the introduction of the parking sticker, guests from outside the district have also been staying away.

Drop in turnover of 20 to 50 percent
"We've lost quite a few guests because of the parking sticker," says Richard Lentner from the wine tavern of the same name in Großjedlersdorf, who is still lucky enough to have ten parking spaces for his customers. "But when they are full, there are problems. Customers then want me to pay for their parking ticket," says Lentner.

Since the introduction of the parking sticker, there is no more comfort. Customers get up every 30 minutes to renew their parking ticket and drink less.

Daniela Swoboda, Heuriger Binder, Großjedlersdorf

Bild: Groh Klemens

"Everything is a problem in itself - everything together is a disaster"
The situation for businesses in Strebersdorf is also tense. Pastry chef Walter Petras is fighting for every guest and against the high energy prices. "First corona, then the parking sticker, now the price hikes and energy prices. Everything in itself is a problem, everything together is a disaster," regrets Petras. "Mayor Michael Ludwig regularly emphasizes how important viticulture is for landscape conservation and tourism. How can this be justified?" asks Hermann Pieczara from Weinmanufaktur am Bisamberg.

I have 30 percent less turnover and am now fighting for every guest. In Strebersdorf, one store after another is closing.

Walter Petras, Konditor, Strebersdorf

Bild: Groh Klemens

"Before the sticker, we were at peace"
Stefan Nadler started a petition for the people of Stammersdorf to reduce the short-stay parking time to 4 pm. Because: "People are being rigorously punished here. People who have always parked in front of their house for 40 years," he explains. Before the sticker, there was peace in Stammersdorf. Winegrowers from all over Vienna support the petition with their signatures.

Neither the residents nor the wine taverns want this parking rule. In our petition, we demand that the short-stay parking time be reduced to 4 pm.

Stefan Nadler, Petitions-Initiator, Stammersdorf

Bild: Groh Klemens

One of the supporters is Sabine Helm. She has been running her Heurigen since 1999. "Guests used to consume a lot more," she says. Due to the parking sticker, Helm is usually only full on Saturdays. "Nobody wants to hold a party on Friday," says Helm in crisis. More and more guests are moving to neighboring communities.

If our staff couldn't park in our private driveway, we wouldn't have any. The public connection to Stammersdorf is poor.

Sabine Helm, Weingut Helm, Stammersdorf

Bild: Groh Klemens

"In the next few years, some of Stammersdorf's wine taverns will close. There are no successors," says Franz Reichl. It's no wonder, the Heuriger is a discontinued model. However, former district councillor Hansjörg Schimanek wants to prevent this. "Vienna is world-famous for its Heurigen culture. That must not be destroyed."

The guests just eat quickly and drink a glass. They spend the money they have to pay for parking elsewhere.

Franz Reichl, Heuriger Reichl, Stammersdorf

Bild: Groh Klemens

Buschenschanken not an "enemy" after all
At least on another front within the world of wine taverns, peace has since returned: the uproar when the City of Vienna passed a law allowing virtually unlimited opening hours for wine taverns from this year, thus creating new competition for wine tavern restaurants, has died down.

"Anything that helps against the decline of wine taverns is good," says Martin Strobl from "Weinhandwerk", for example, who is not afraid that the wine taverns will take customers away from him: In the meantime, every Heurigen restaurant and every winemaker has to come up with something of their own anyway, "because: People don't want the canned Liptauer from the wholesale market".

Winemaker Lisa Windischbauer also doesn't believe that her Weinberg-Buschenschank will take anything away from Heurigen restaurants: "Now we can just open up once when it's nice during the week." There have been "heated discussions" about the new regulations, but now "all colleagues continue to get on well."