I started my visit to the Schlumberger sparkling wine cellars expecting a PR exercise. But my cynicism soon melted away thanks to the historical ambience and informative tour.
- Public tour includes winetasting afterwards
- Info & anecdotes on wine history & production
- Cellars alone are an intriguing experience
- Friendly staff too
- Book a tour of the cellars*
- See also:
Tour & tasting
(The historical building façade)
Falling in love has many consequences. For German-born Robert Alwin Schlumberger back in 1842, it meant moving to Vienna to set up home with his Austrian wife, Sophie Kirchner.
Fortunately for the Viennese, Schlumberger was not just a man in love, but also an expert winemaker with a background in champagne production in France. He bought up some cellar space and started doing what he knew best.
Successfully, too.
Schlumberger’s sparkling wine appeared on Queen Victoria’s wine list at the Great London Exposition of 1862, for example. And on the menu at the 1955 signing of the Staatsvertrag granting Austria its independence post-WWII.
Today, the company is (among other things) Austria’s leading producer of sparkling wine. And Schlumberger still uses those original cellars, which you can visit on a self-guided tour before tasting a glass or more of bubbly.
The tour
(Along here for the tour; press photo courtesy of Schlumberger and © Bildagentur Zolles/Robert Zolles)
The roughly 45-minute tour includes an audio guide or smartphone equivalent (with English as a language option) that directs you through the public areas of the cellars and gives you an overview of several key topics, notably:
- The history of the cellars and Schlumberger
- The traditional production processes (from grape to end product)
- The Schlumberger sparkling wines
Those public areas include both working cellars and items illustrating what you learn through the guide. So you might find rack after rack of sparkling wine bottles but also wall displays on the history of winemaking.
Anyone expecting some dark or claustrophobic ambience is in for a pleasant surprise.
The cellars themselves are broad, tall, and utterly pristine. The ambient lighting is also rather stylish with real candles in places.
(If you’re lucky, you might even see a worker in action. In this case, turning bottles. You see these racks and the wine press behind them near the start of the tour; press photo courtesy of Schlumberger and © Bildagentur Zolles/Robert Zolles)
These old brick-lined chambers feel like stepping into another world when compared to the road outside with its modern subway station and bridges.
You can almost hear the echoes of some besuited worker from the 1800s, wondering if the post from Bohemia has arrived yet.
I found myself surprised by much of what I learned of the labour-intensive production processes and strong sense of tradition that pervades sparkling wine production at Schlumberger.
And the guide mixes in little anecdotes along with more factual explanations, for example of terms like “tirage” and “riddling” or why each bottle has an indentation at the bottom.
The tastings
(Our tasting voucher and some wines we already had at home)
The basic tour package includes a voucher for a glass of Sparkling Brut at the tasting bar that doubles as a ticket counter. Upgrade alternatives differ only in terms of tasting options.
We bought a Classic Tour ticket, for example, which got us an additional two sparkling wine varieties to try (Rosé Brut and Grüner Veltliner Brut).
No plastic or paper cups here, but proper glasses and decent-sized portions filled from bottles by staff more than willing to answer questions in detail.
Tickets & tips
As mentioned above, tickets for or from Schlumberger for tour timeslots include a voucher for one or more varieties of sparkling wine to try once you’ve visited the cellars.
(Booking service provided by Tiqets.com*, who I am an affiliate of)
A few tips:
- Temperatures in the cellars are kept at around 13-15°C. I was in shorts and a t-shirt and felt a little bit chilly by the end, so consider taking a pullover or jacket
- The cool interior also makes this one of the strongest options for avoiding summer heat
- Schlumberger’s wine comes from the Lower Austria and Burgenland provinces, but Vienna has a surprisingly large number of vineyards. Viennese wine is very much “a thing”. And numerous traditional wine taverns serving in-house wine exist
- Another wine-tasting option in the city is over near Schönbrunn palace*
How to get to Schlumberger
The Schlumberger cellars are a very short walk from Spittelau station, not far from the centre. Take the Heiligenstädter Straße exit from the complex.
Subway: take the U4 or U6 to Spittelau. The U4, for example, leaves from Schottenring and Schwedenplatz in the old town.
Tram: take the D to Spittelau. The D runs around one side of the old town where you can pick it up at stops like Karlsplatz / Oper, Burgring, Parlament, Schottentor and Börse.
Address: Heiligenstädter Str. 39, 1190 Vienna | Website