The Joy of Summer Travel Magazine 2012

Enjoying great taste and climbing at the Zogglhof. Carinthia Magazine 34 1 All aboard for the Mostbarkeiten cider specialities in the Lavant Valley. 2 CARINTHIAN DELICACIES. Apples, honey and curd cheese, bread and sheep’s cheese – we take a foray into the “Genussland Kärnten” and its fine specialities. Text by Julia Kospach Carinthian apples. Wide meadows and fields, orchards and a whole lot of sunshine. This is the Carinthian Lavant Valley. Here you will still find managed grasslands with big old apple trees on which delicious, traditional varieties like the juicy, slightly sour Bohnapfel, the fruity and mild Lavanttaler Banane or the fresh and tangy Schmidberger grow. In the region surrounding the imposing Benedictine Monastery of St. Paul, the treasury of Carinthia, fruit growing goes back a long way. A spacious former stable of the monastery, the Zogglhof, now houses the gallery of the “Mostbarkeiten”, where 25 producers from the region show the fine foods produced from the fruits of the rich Lavant Valley soil. Above all from apples. Not long ago Europe’s first authentic apple wine with a controlled designation of origin was produced in the Lavant Valley: Vinum ex malis carinthia controllatum – in brief VMCC – is the name of the quality seal which these apple wines with their own strong character are only allowed to carry following a stringent inspection by the Federal Office for Wine-Growing. The biggest surprise of all: Despite only having 6 to 7.5 percent alcohol, in terms of fruitiness they leave nothing to be desired when compared with grape juices. A second fermentation in the tank produces lightly sparkling apple wine – Lower Carinthia’s fruity response to the Italian Frizzante. And of course apple juice, both clear and cloudy, also plays a major role, and indeed is so fine and fruity that other lemonades are hardly even ordered any more from the region’s landlords and restaurants. The apple products – from apple wine, sparkling wine and cider via apple juice through to apple vinegar – can be bought straight from the farms or at the gallery in the Zogglhof. If you are really smart you will board the St. Paul Mostland Express, a jaunty tractor with several trailers, and enjoy being driven through the beautiful Lavant Valley scenery from farm to farm and from tasting to tasting. Galerie der Mostbarkeiten/Zogglhof Hundsdorf 2 9470 St. Paul im Lavanttal Tel.: +43(0)4357/3141 www.mostbarkeiten.at Family tip: St. Pauler Mostlandexpress Markus Schober, Gasthaus Gößnitzer Granitztal/St. Paul 9, 9470 St. Paul im Lavanttal Tel.: +43(0)4357/ 2197 www.mostlandexpress.at The Mostland Express is the comfortable way to travel through the paradise of the Lavant Valley – including cider Reindling cake, a cider region lunch, a visit to a tavern and tastings. Carinthia Magazine 35

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