chocolatebuddha » Archives » “Ein glas Sturm, bitte!”

That phrase was on repeat daily in Vienna. With a late summer setting in for the year, the orange-hued evening sun provided everyone with an excuse to sit al fresco style through dusk. September is wine season Wachau Valley, a wine-growing region with vineyards lined both sides of the Danube river an hour by train from Vienna.

Sad that there was a ‘No drunk cycling’ rule. To stop and sample Sturm along the quaint towns nestled between my cycling route departure point of Krems to the destination, Melk, some 40 over kilometers apart was not a possibility. So back in Vienna’s Naschmarkt and Museum Quartier, I ordered many glasses of Sturm – in proper German.

Sturm is made from fermented grape juice – if they were left longer and filtered, you’ll be drinking wine instead. You’ll be greeted with sediments at the bottom of the glass when you finished. It is packed with good vitamins for our bodies and is extremely appetizing to drink with some hearty bread, cheese and salty sausages. Since it is only available around September, everywhere people are enjoying their after-work, pre-dinner Sturm and also some heaving bottles back to accompany dinner at home.

Unlike wine, Sturm does not taste as clear so it’s not for connoisseurs to analyse the bouquets of flavour. White and pink Sturm vary in taste, with the pink carrying more berry hints. Both are as unassumingly lethal. Despite a low alcohol content, its high sugar level assimilates alcohol quicker into our bodies. Hence, merry happy Viennese around sunset.