Stainz

Most famous wine-growing community in the Austrian wine-growing region of Western Styria with the cadastral communities of Gamsgebirg, Kothvogl, Neurath and Stainz. It is the centre of the growing area for the probably most famous Styrian wine, the Schilcher. Stainz Castle, enthroned above the village, was founded in 1229 as an Augustinian canon monastery and was acquired in 1840 by the Austrian Archduke Johann (1782-1859). This popular Habsburg was then Mayor of Stainz and has rendered outstanding services to Styrian viticulture. Today, it houses a museum and numerous wine cultural activities take place there. The historical reed Engelweingarten in the cadastral community of Kothvogl was planted with the endangered variety Blauer Wildbacher at the beginning of the 20th century - at that time for the first time with phylloxera-resistant rootstocks. The Stainzer "Flascherlzug" is a tourist attraction with 20,000 passengers annually. The name of the train comes from the time when the miracle doctor "Höllerhansl" (1866-1935) practiced in Rachling. He had the reputation of being able to detect various diseases from urine. That is why many people travelled on this narrow-gauge railway, had a bottle of urine in their hand luggage and went to Höllerhansl. One of the wagons is called "Schilcherschaukel", here you can enjoy Schilcher with the Styrian speciality "Verhackertes" during the ride.