A Buschenschank or Heuriger is an Austrian wine taverns in where specially licensed local winemakers serve their most recent year’s wines for short periods following the growing season. They are renowned for their cozy atmosphere, local specialties and simple food.
We made a stop at Heinzl and Felix Kainz’s Buschenschank, a few times actually. My fave part is when you walk in everyone says hello and is super friendly (even to the strange blue haired lady) AND right off the bat you get cookies… I enjoyed so much of the wine made by our hosts so I opted for beer (which I didn’t get a pic of) and we ordered pretty much everything on the short list of a menu. There was much to explain about the food we were served. Mostly it’s homemade bread with different stuff to put on it… pork, grammelschmalz (which is basically fried fat), etc and a side of boiled eggs, pickles, tomatoes and shredded raw horseradish (whoa… that junk is HOT!). Someone also ordered some sort of meat in gelatin covered in pumpkin seed oil. I can’t remember what that was called but no thanks.
The way I understand it… wine and schnapps makers can get their license and sign up to list their house, cellar or terrace as a Buschenschank and sell their wares. Here’s a site that lists this years Buschenschank hosts…
http://www.eisenberg.at/de/tourismus/buschenschank.html