Description of the Coat of Arms:
"A red shield, through the middle of which runs a natural river with the Latin phrase ‘Lacus Ferto’ written in it. Three mounts vert rise from the base of the shield from which two crossing-over green vines with two red grapes extend. In the upper left and right corners are two gold stars, in the middle a large silver W, the initial of the town’s name."
Population: 1,922Area: 3,251 haHeight above sea level: 127 m
Traces of settlements dating back to the early Stone Age have been found in the Weiden am See area. Outstanding finds were made in 1944 in the area of the boundary road, when a settlement complex of the Baden culture was discovered. Two graves were discovered in the “Unterfeld” marsh area containing burial offerings and grave goods from the early Bronze Age Wieselburger culture. A significant number of Roman artefacts were also found at these grave sites. A further Bronze Age necropolis was found along the municipal boundary with Neusiedl. In 1939 a rich Roman grave with a stone sarcophagus from the second to third centruy B.C. was excavated.
Weiden am See was first mentioned in a document in the year 1338 as “Weyden”. The name is most likely derived from the middle high German “bi den Widen”(near the willow trees). Until 1413 the village belonged to the cathedral chapter of Pressburg. From 1413 to 1848 Weiden was the only village situated in present-day Burgenland to belong to the cathedral chapter of Raab, which consisted of sizeable lands in western Hungary.
By 1588 the Emperor Rudolf II had granted market rights and a coat of arms to Weiden. Viticulture was already a dominating economic force in Weiden and flourished in the second half of the 16th century to reach a highpoint in the 17th century.
In the year 1969 in Weiden am See the winemakers’ hydrometers seemed not to be working. Many wine-farmers sceptically eyed their hydrometers as they showed such a high wine sweetness as had never been seen before. But a comparison with neighbouring hydrometers gave the ultimate proof: the harvest of the century was present, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Nature - and not man - produced dessert wines of an exceptional quality (Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Ausbrüche, Trockenbeerenauslese). No-one in Weiden am See in 1969 had any idea that an equally exceptional wine, the “Weidener Ausbruch” had been produced more than 350 years earlier.
The production of Ausbruch wines (sweet dessert wine) did not take place in the first half of the 17th century. Direct evidence for the production of Ausbruch wines in Weiden am See exists for the years 1617, 1624, 1626 and 1634 to 1638. However, from addenda in the wine register, we can assume that Ausbruch wine was already being produced in 1610. Clearly, only exceptionally favourable weather conditions and local climatic factors can lead to the creation of such extraordinary products. This is why the production of “Weidener Ausbruch” is only limited to a very few years.
In comparison to the present-day wines of exceptional quality, the 17th century “Weidener Ausbruch” was harvested “in prima collectura”, in other words a little before the start of the main harvest. It was a type of harvest method where all overripe, partly mouldy and fallen down grapes were selected or picked up. In the year 1635, the comment was “ in prima collectura uvas putrescentes excerperunt”. This means: “ the overripe grapes were selected at the first harvest”. In 1635 this was the 5th of September!
If today only certain varieties can produce sweet, high quality wines, it must be been similar then, in that only certain type of grapes were suitable for Ausbruch wines. Numerous wine historians hold that the grape that went towards making such an exceptional product was the Furmint, or Zapfeter variety, which was wide-spread before the vine fretter catastrophe. Furmint is used in the famous Tokaj wine area to make wines of exceptional quality, which were first alluded to in 1655, some years after the first specific mention of the Ausbruch in Weiden am See.
The production of Ausbruch wines made a considerable profit for our wine-farmers. In the 17th century, wine merchants usually paid an average of 1.5-2 guldens for normal wine, however for the Ausbruch wine they paid 4 to 6 gulden! For exceptional wines bound for export this occurred twice a year. With the knowledge that there was such a price gap between normal and Ausbruch wines, the question arises as to whether the Weiden wine-farmers were pressing Ausbruch wines on purpose - in other words harvesting the grapes at a very late date. It must be said that only very rich citizens of the viticulture areas and gentlemen with their own extensive lands could afford the risk of a late harvest. In the “Ausbruch years” in Weiden am See, apart form 1617, all wine-growing establishments, including fiefs and tenures, harvested late. The Weiden wine-farmers of the 17th century took what nature offered to them. Today, the grace or disfavour of the climate still plays the deciding role as to whether these wines of exceptional quality are produced.