The most entertaining event of the visit to Humer happened at the end, when in a matter of minutes a warm and sunny day turned into a cloudy one, then into a very dark and cloudy one with approaching thunder, and then exploded in a downpour of rain, followed by hail and finally snow. In mere seconds, the road next to Humer and the surrounding fields were covered with at least five centimeters of slush, which created quite a contrast with the spring flowers and Easter decorations on the Heuriger’s (fortunately) covered terrace.
By that time, I was finishing my second glass of wine, having completed Humer’s Brettljause rather quickly. It was not a particularly big Brettljause to start with, dominated by two dollops of spread – a fresh but not very tasty Liptauer and a rather unappealing gray mass of something meaty mixed with carrots. Because of its color, I was actually expecting the latter to have a strong taste of liver, and was quite relieved when it turned out to be an almost normal Verhackert, but with subtle and unusual flavors of carrot and spices.
Having ordered only a single roll of Kornspitz (bread had to be ordered separately) and being too lazy to ask for another, I had to ration it for the spreads, so experienced the rest of the dish “breadless,” quite liking it. The Geselchtes and the Speck were overrepresented in comparison to the other ingredients, which was OK since they were by far the best parts, both fresh and clearly locally sourced. The cheese and the light salami, on the other hand, could have come from a supermarket and left no impression.
Though sort of reachable with public transportation, Mühlbach is nevertheless a comparatively remote village, and Weingut Humer appears to be a popular socializing location among the locals. The Heuriger was nearly packed when I arrived apart from a few reserved tables, and filled up even more while I was eating. Probably due to the number of clients – or maybe because I was sitting outdoors – the service was not very efficient, and might have been affected (just my guess) by the waiters’ enjoying a sip of wine themselves from time to time. On the other hand, had I been served quicker, I would have ended up under the thunderstorm on my way back instead of safely waiting it out under the terrace’s roof.
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