The new 2025 has all the chances of becoming a really crappy year (or not – I prefer to expect the worst and be positively surprised at the end rather than vice versa), but Brettljause-wise, it is starting amazingly well. Yesterday evening I was exploring my beloved Top Heuriger website, looking for a new location that would allow me to hike for a few hours before indulging in food and drinks, and came across Heuriger Schleinzer-Hollweger in Unterretzbach, a village just a few kilometers away from the easily reachable town of Retz. Better still, the village had a railway station of its own, meaning that I could go back to Vienna effortlessly, without a lengthy walk or even changing trains.
Surprised by such conveniences, I did not especially care about the Heuriger (as long as it was open) and would have been absolutely content with a slice of Kümmelbraten, a cabbage salad and a few glasses of wine. Instead, I ended up with a Brettljause that was nearly perfect. In fact, the only “weaknesses” I can think of are that it was served on a normal plate rather than a wooden board and that it did not feature horseradish. In everything else, it satisfied every criterion on my mental checklist. Spicy Verhackertes? Tick. Lots of fresh and pickled vegetables? Tick. Eggs? A very small tick, for a couple of slices was not at all sufficient. Good Liptauer, if such a thing exists? The Hollweger’s spread had the color of a Liptauer, but was something altogether different, mixing eggs with paprika and only the cook knows what else, resulting in a very fresh-tasting, creamy and slightly spicy combination. Absolutely brilliant – I am considering to come back and order that spread alone.
Even the best spread is not gratifying without good bread, and Hollweger did not disappoint in that regard by offering a basket of different rolls and bread slices. The Salzstange I took was even hot, and my second choice, a Kornspitz, was extremely fresh too, both coming from a local bakery. One has to pay extra for the rolls, but they are completely worth their price of 1.60 euros per piece.
The biggest surprise, however, was the cheese – Lower Austria is known for having lots of different cheese types with nearly identical and very weak flavors, but Hollweger served a strong cheese from Vorarlberg instead, making me extremely happy. The meats were fine, too, and plentiful – one-third less would have been enough to fully satisfy my hunger, and I was quite hungry when I arrived.
With my Brettljausen count well over 600, I think it is understandable that I begin to doubt that anything can truly surprise me anymore. A weird ingredient like kangaroo ham, perhaps. Yet today Sonnenheuriger Schleinzer-Hollweger astonished me by serving a Brettljause that was simply done right. And not in a Tyrolean hut on a sunny summer day, but in a little village one kilometer away from the Czech border, on the fourth day of a new year (which can still turn to crap).
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