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Wine from North Tirol - an almost unknown specialty

That a fine dinner should be enhanced by fine wines goes without saying. Wine has a much longer tradition in Tirol than the equally popular beer. But this comes as no surprise considering the vast wine growing regions south of Brenner Pass. "Grape juice" has been abundant for many centuries. The fact that wine is also grown north of Brenner Pass is not very widely known though.

From old documents we know that wine was already grown in North Tirol 13th century. Emperor Maximilian I proved himself to be a supporter and patron of wine growing. At his suggestion vineyards were laid out in Zirl near the precipitous Martinswand rockface and in Thaur, on the sunny hills below the Thaur castle ruins. The practice of grape vine cultivation in North Tirol served two different purposes. First of all Maximilian I wanted to be closer to the "source" of this heavenly juice and secondly he wanted to avoid the sometimes horrendous import duties. Unfortunately no records from this period have survived that could testify to the wine's quality. What we do know though is that its career didn't last very long. Due to a change in climate at the end of the Middle Ages wine-growing came practically to a standstill in Tirol. But there have been and still are many attempts to revive wine culture in Tirol.

The currently most successful "attempt" to grow wine takes place on the fields in Thaur near Innsbruck. In 1988 Romed Isser planted his first vineyard in Thaur, Tirol's largest vegetable garden. What started as hobby turned into a business. Today his family cultivate a total of 2,800 vines that conjure up memories of Italy. The wines are sold under the label "Romedi". The name is not owed to their father, but rather the town's patron St. Romedius who can be found throughout Thaur. The small church which protects the Thaur vegetable gardens and vineyards is also dedicated to him.