Culture & Cures
Baden Grape Cure Festival
Nature heals! Recognizing this fact, Baden's winemakers have joined forces with the town's physicians to initiate an official grape and grape juice cure in Baden bei Wien. In this cure, spa guests are served top quality "white and red Gutedel" grapes, also known as Baden cure grapes.
The grape cure is the oldest of the fruit cures and has long been applied as a natural way of purging and regenerating the body.
The strict grape cure should continue no longer than three weeks. It starts with one kilogram of grapes a day, an amount gradually increased over the three weeks to as much as 2 kg a day. The daily quantity of grapes should be equally divided into three portions, taken in the morning, at midday and in the evening.
The same results can be achieved using only grape juice. In the juice cure, one starts with 0.75 liters and increases this quantity over the three weeks to as much as 1.5 liters. The grape juice should likewise be divided into three different portions, to be drunk in the morning, at midday and in the evening.
The most popular of the grape cures are those which also include three regular, yet smaller, meals a day. The following guidelines should be followed: lots of vegetables and salads (avoid flatulent varieties or legumes) about 50 % of them raw, milk, naturally soured milk, full grain bread (not fresh from the oven), a small amount of animal protein, small amounts of fat and carbohydrates, mineral water or tea, no spicy and roasted dishes, no alcohol. A third of the daily amount of grapes should be eaten 1 hour before breakfast, lunch and supper.
The Baden Grape Cure Festival is held on the main square
(Hauptplatz) of Baden's pedestrian zone every year from early September
to the start of the grape harvest. A diverse program of music and entertainment
is offered during these four weeks around the stands of the Baden Winemaking
Association. Brass and woodwind bands plus folk dancing and folklore groups
make the grape and grape juice cure pure pleasure. Rounding out the program
are cellar tours at vintners', guided walks through the vineyards and
medical information about the correct application of the Baden grape cure.
The grape cure is also available to guests at a number of Baden hotels
and inns during the Grape Cure Festival.