Danube River Cruise #34:Welcome to Wine Country - Krems, Austria!

Gruner Veltliner Wine, Austria

In the last blog about our May vacation Viking River Cruise on the Danube, we were in Vienna, Austria. Once we saw the city we returned to the ship and cruised overnight north on the Danube to the next stop, Krems, Austria. Today we'll tell you about Krems and its famous wine making!  We visited there on Thursday, May 23, 2019 and the weather was awful! It was 47 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind-swept rain, and wind chills in the upper 30s. Not a nice day for seeing vineyards, so we went indoors, but we'll tell you about that in the next blog. Now, on to the wine... 

A view of the Wachau Valley and some vineyards

ABOUT KREMS - Krems, actually named "Krems an der Donau" is a town of 23,992 residents. It is located in the federal state of Lower Austria. It is the fifth-largest city of Lower Austria and is approximately 44 miles (70 km) west of Vienna. Krems is both a municipality and a district. It's a small university town at the eastern end of the Danube's Wachau Valley and surrounded by vineyards!

MORE IMPORTANT THAN VIENNA IN 12th CENTURY- During the 12th century, Krems was the place for the iron, grain, salt and wine trade.

Driving through rainy Wachua Valley- Abbey in the distance

FAMOUS FOR WINE- Krems and the Wachau Valley are famous for the best Riesling and Veltliner wines in the world. In 2019, there were 306 known wineries in the Wachau Valley. You can learn about them and the wines from this website:

NOT WORKING IN WINERIES COULD COST A BODY PART (in 11th century) - By the 11th and 12th centuries, Vienna and Krems were exporting wine all over Europe. Wine production was so important that the penalty for stealing grapes was having your ears lopped off. If you didn’t help out during the grape harvest, you risked having your hands chopped off too. History does not record how many ear-less and hand-less people were wandering around Austria during the early middle ages, according to an article in Thailand's Pattayamail newspaper:

Church in the Valley from atop a hill where the Abbey sat

WINERIES DATE BACK TO 5TH CENTURY - Remnants of wine vessels have been found that date back to the fifth century BC. Viticulture thrived under the Romans and amazingly they grew at least one grape variety that is still cultivated today – Grüner Veltliner.

FAST FACT - the German word winzer means a vine grower.

LARGEST WINE MAKER IN AUSTRIA - Niederösterreich is the home of Winzer Krems (VINT-ser Kremz), Austria’s largest wine producer. It’s a cooperative made up of over 1,500 grape growers located in and around the town of Krems which has a winemaking history that dates back more than two thousand years. The entire Winzer Krems harvest is carried out by hand.

OUR WINE TASTING - The Abbey we visited had a "wine tasting" opportunity at the end of the tour and Tom tried the Reisling. He doesn't like sweet wine, so he wasn't big on it. I like the sweet stuff. :) 

View of the Valley

NEXT: Visiting the Gottweig Benedictine Abbey on a Rainswept Hill