The life's work of Peter Rosegger (1843-1918), an Austrian writer, peoten and regional poet from Styria, comprises 43 volumes. As a critical author of his time, he campaigned throughout his life for the improvement of the living conditions of the rural population. In 1913 he was considered a strong favourite for the Nobel Prize, but did not receive it. Rosegger was also the director of the monthly magazine "Heimgarten" from 1876 to 1910. In 1909, he presented his views on wine and described it as a constant source of inspiration. In doing so, he made a declaration of love for wine, so to speak, but preached a moderate enjoyment of wine:
i praise the anti-alcohol movement and work for it to the best of my ability; alcoholism wreaks terrible havoc and unspeakable disgust among our people. But I say this openly: I could not do without the daily small bottle of Tyrolean (note: probably South Tyrolean wine). If it merely refreshed me, put me in a comfortable mood, made the world seem rosier, that would still be too little reason to be attached to it for so many years. But the little bottle makes me feel better, triggers nobler feelings, nobler thoughts and more altruistic resolutions in me, and with such a glass of wine I could perhaps be just as good as some people think I am A little alcohol in my blood causes me to lead a more spirited and higher life. I have made many a good assumption, worked out many a confident plan, for which I would have lacked impetus and courage in ordinary dullness. While this state lasts, however, I also know and consider that it will soon be gone again. I try to prepare myself against this coming sober danger, and over a glass of wine I resolve to remain faithful to the good intentions of the same in trade and commerce, perhaps even to bind myself by a promise, so that I will be forced to carry out what I have now decided.
When others complain that decisions they make over a glass of wine sometimes go badly with them, I have never experienced this with myself, unless a hasty decision had been made over the second bottle. In the first there is still reason for me, only sunnier, more unselfish than usual, and if I could keep such a state in me permanently, I would be a good-hearted, high-minded person. Mind you, this is the first little bottle. One must warn against the second. At best, it is completely superfluous, because the nobility that comes from the first bottle cannot be increased in the second, and because the beneficent effect of the first bottle will in any case last beyond the time of the second. But to whom the first bottle gives no other inspiration than to order the second, one must with all seriousness also dislike the first. The German Chancellor Bismarck is said to have once said that the French soul is superior to the German soul by one glass of wine, which is why the German has to refill this glass, which the Frenchman does not need. Why does the German also top up on all that beer? On this topic, see also under Health.
Portrait: Public domain, Link
Monument: By Sebastian Pfeifer - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
