In Vienna, at the Hotel Rathaus, I think about something Hemingway once said: “wine is the most civilized thing in the world.”
I hear him — but I have to note that I have felt the same about a truly great hotel. So, what happens when you marry fine wine with exquisite digs? Imagine a hotel — that would be the Rathaus — that celebrates wine to the extent that even the individual bedrooms are sponsored by local wineries, the doors to each modern suite being an enlarged, pleasingly rendered reproduction of a wine label from that vineyard.
Within, photos of the very grapes, the winemaking family, and its estates bedeck the walls, and a mini fridge offers up vintages sent by that particular vineyard.Rooms are referred to less by number, and more by winery. (“Yes, Mary, I am in the Preisinger Chardonnay room, just down the hall from the Schloss Gobelsburg label. You can’t miss me”).
Choosing rooms here means eschewing the standard request for a room with a view, and opting for your suite based on wine preference .(“Fraulein, do you prefer the reds from the Burgenland or Gruener Veiltliner from the Donau?”) Even the hotel manager is a sommelier, known to lead wine tastings for guests, plan rendezvous to the vineyards of Austria, and mailing wines home to wherever our own cellars may await.
Located near the renowned Museum Quarter, just minutes from the Town Hall, vastly different from traditional Vienna, this modern boutique hotel evokes the chic and symbolizes what I think of as the Viennese penchant for being artistically avante garde at all times.
photos courtesy Hotel Rathaus
A yellow Neo-Classical, typically turn-of-the-century building on the outside, the Hotel Rathaus triumphs indoors. Everything is sleek, almost post modern and wholly efficient, with bits of Baroque in a chandelier here, an antique elevator there, and a fabulously ornate sofa there, all combining to contrast and complement the contemporary feast designed by famed Austrian architect Manfred Katzlinger.
An ode to minimalism, the guestrooms boast splendid apricot curtains, shiny wood floors, enchanting photographs of the wine people, and commodious beds with canopies that seem to hover over them in startling straight lines.
A haven for architecture buffs— the home of countless Baroque masterpieces mingled with the wonders of the Jugendstil, the Austrian rendition of Art Nouveau — Vienna embraces the ornate and the decorative, setting the stage for structures as idiosyncratic and aesthetically pleasing as Hotel Rathaus Wein & Design. A great base for sightseeing in Vienna, this amusing, efficient, and inspired hotel thrills the wine lover — and the design aficionado — in all of us.
One good book: Austrian Wine: Wine Regions of Austria, Wineries of Austria, Vienna, Burgenland, Lower Austria, Wachau, Styria
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