The Klapotetz above Kitzeck im Sausal

Kitzeck im Sausal sits on a ridge north of Leibnitz among some of the steepest vineyards in Austria, and is counted one of the highest wine villages in Europe. The place itself is small — a church, a wine museum, a handful of Buschenschank taverns — and the reason to come is what surrounds it: terraced slopes dropping away in every direction under a sky that is usually bigger than the hills.

The Klapotetz is what makes the picture local. It is a wooden windmill with a paddle wheel and hammers that beat on a board, built to keep birds off the ripening fruit, and several of them stand on the Kitzeck slopes. Put a couple below one on the hill and you have the vines, the mill and the ridge line in a single frame.

They are not permanent. Tradition puts them up on 25 July and takes them down at the start of November, so from spring to midsummer the posts stand bare. Late summer and October are therefore the season here, which is also when the vines have colour and the mornings have mist in the valleys.

The lanes up to the village are single track with passing places, and they fill on autumn weekends. The vineyards are working land — stay on the roads and marked tracks unless a grower invites you in — and check opening days if you plan to finish at a Buschenschank, since many keep only part-year hours.