Austria Guide
Styria
Styria (Steiermark 
www.steiermark.com ) is one of Austria's largest Länder, and also one of the most varied in terms of terrain. A gently undulating landscape to the south, rich in vineyards, orchards and fertile, arable land, gives way to the industrialized ribbon of the middle Murtal further north. Beyond here, in the increasingly alpine west and far north, imposing mountain ranges like the Tauern and the Hochswab preserve their laid-back, rural atmosphere.
Highlights
1 Zeughaus, Graz A beguiling one-of-a-kind armoury, with an impressive range of aged weapons and armour.
2 Austrian Open-Air Museum, Stübing This well-executed museum delivers a good overview of Austria's rural heritage.
3 Pfarrkirche St Barbara, Bärnbach The locals voted for Hundertwasser to let rip on this parish church with predictably zany and attractive results.
4 Schloss Reigersburg The finest castle in the Land; still in use and with a magnificent hilltop setting.
5 Admont Styria's most rewarding abbey, with an interesting museum and a fabulous baroque library.
The Weinstrasse (Wine Road)
The best-known wines to come out of Styria are the dry white Gewürztraminers of the southeast, cultivated around Klöch, a village north of Bad Radkersburg, and the towns of Riegersburg and Hartberg. A variety of other whites are grown around Leibnitz and Ehrenhausen, and Schilcher, a medium dry rosé, is produced in the countryside near Deutschlandsberg and Stainz.
All this has encouraged local tourist authorities to promote the idea of the Weinstrasse, or wine-road, a suggested touring itinerary that links together the main vine-growing villages of a particular area. The most travelled of these routes in Styria are the Schilcherstrasse, which runs from Stainz southwards to Deutschlandsberg and on to Ebiswald near the Slovene border; the Sausaler Weinstrasse, which covers a small group of hilltop villages in the Sausal Gebirge just west of Leibnitz; the Südsteirische Weinstrasse, starting in Ehrenhausen and zigzagging its way west along the Austrian– Slovene border; and the Klöcher Weinstrasse, which heads from Bad Radkersburg northwards to Fehring. Local wine-makers sell their produce from a Buschenschank, often no more than a converted garage with a few chairs and tables set out. There you can buy wine by the glass or the bottle, and enjoy a bite to eat, although food may amount to a simple platter of bread and cold meats.
Autumn is a good time to visit, when new wine is offered for tasting alongside a part-fermented, lightly alcoholic grape derivative known as Sturm, which is best quaffed accompanied by another seasonal delicacy, Maroni (roast chestnuts). Wine festivals take place in Leutschach on the last weekend of September, Gamlitz on the first weekend of October, and Leibnitz on the second weekend of October (contact Leibnitz tourist office for details).