Cats have always liked to stay in vaulted cellars or wine cellars because of the mice that live there. According to an often told (but not factual) story, the house cat always sits on the best wine barrel in a cellar and licks away the drops that are spilled when the wine is taken out of the bunghole. A cat figure was therefore often placed on the best barrel in order to prevent the staff or servants from tapping some of it for themselves. There is also a Swabian saying that goes: " Give me some of the same wine where the cat is sitting" (i.e. from the best). Cat or cat also occurs quite often in the names of single vineyards or vineyards. The meaning is not entirely clear; there are at least two variants. One is that cat and wine have in common that they are sometimes "velvety and flattering", the other time "scratchy to rough". The other is that they are sheltered, warm locations and that cats also like a warm place.
The best-known Austrian example is Katzensprung in the Wachau region of Lower Austria. The best-known site in Germany is probably Schwarze Katz in the municipality of Zell in the Mosel growing region. There are others in the growing regions of Nahe (Bad Kreuznacher Katzenhölle), Pfalz (Kindenheimer Katzenstein), Rheinhessen (Mörstadter Katzbuckel), Saxony (Proschwitzer Katzensprung) and Württemberg (Lauffener Katzenbeißer). Bad grape varieties or inferior wines used to be associated with cat as well, but in a negative way: "The wine tastes like cat piss". In Lower Austria, an intoxicated person is also described with the statement: " He has (red) eyes like a press house cat". This may be the origin of the term " hangover " or "cat's whine" for the unpleasant after-effects of excessive alcohol consumption. The cellar mould, also called cellar cat, has a different meaning.
Picture left: © Walter Kaltzin
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Egon Mark
Diplom-Sommelier, Weinakademiker und Weinberater, Volders (Österreich)