Wine Food Pairing - Hans Tinhof Heurigen Austria

The Entrance of Hans Tinhof Heurigen is modest and only hints of the lovely garden and great wines waiting for you inside!






Angelika and Hans Tinhof, our hosts ....

Wine food pairing is having more great adventures in Austria! We stopped by our good friend Hans Tinhof's Heurigen the other night and what a treat we were in store for. He had been bottling wine all day in the cellar .... a yummy red .... and we were just in time for a sampling. It had been in the barrels for 3 years and was just "prime" for drinking! Hans explained that they lost most of the crop in their vineyards this year to a crazy hail storm, so in a couple of years the wine bounty will be slim .... what a shame ....

The Tinhof winery is located in the lovely village of St. Georgen. The vineyards are spread about the hills surrounded by small forests. All of his grapes are picked by hand and all the wine making is done by traditional methods. This is done with the highest respect in order to satisfy you, the customer.

In the video, Hans opens up a bottle for us to taste with our "house" sample plate. All kinds of smoked wursts (or sausages ) smoked ribs, terrific Austrian potato salad, "pickled" things ... only the Austrians really know what it is ... lol ... and of course a basket of fresh baked bread. OH MY!!!! Tickle me Elmo!

The place was hopping and they even had a ski wear show going on ... I don't get to see that very often in Florida. All the latest in ski parkas and boots!

It is so sad that very little of the delicious wine from Austria makes it to the USA. Most of it goes over to Germany where they mix it with their wine and still claim it a German wine ... so much for wine politics! Austria is such a small country .... even though much of the country is devoted to the wine farmer and their products, they do not have enough left over to export.

I have learned so much from my Austrian friends about wine food pairing and most of it is very simple. Fresh home made food and traditional wines enjoyed with good friends ... it is the always the BEST. CHEERS!