ON THE AUSTRIAN WINE TRAIL
It has been 100 years since World War 1 ended in 1919, and along with that the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire. I’m listening to a somewhat dry historical lecture at a picnic bench named Grenztisch – which literally means ‘table at the border’, built with one half in Austria, and the other half in Slovenia. There’s nothing dry about my options though, choosing between an Austrian Muskateller or Slovenian Welschriesling as my wine group takes in the stunning but once savage hills and valleys of both countries laid at our feet.
TALES OF EIGHT BORDERS
Small but mighty Austria sits literally at the heart of Europe, sharing borders with Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia. My route skirts the latter four of those countries, to understand how the continuing post-war (re)assignment of these borders had inflicted traumatic effects on the people and produce of
