South Tyrol: Bio-Hotel Panorama offers full eco enjoyment

“12 years ago, we were the first non-Austrian establishment to become a member of Bio-Hotels, that was founded in Austria in 2001,” Friedrich Steiner explains in the relaxed atmosphere on his sun terrace, with a panoramic view of the mountains. When he and his wife Thea took over her parents’ hotel in 1987, “organic was at first not on my radar,” says the 56-year-old, “but rather value added for regional products.” However, the couple soon became increasingly interested in ecological issues and gentle tourism, which resulted in them being awarded the South Tyrol environment logo in 1994. Since the hotel had too small a garden, the Steiners leased adjacent land measuring 4,000 m² from the municipality in order to create a large garden where they could grow vegetables, herbs and fruit. Now it is run mainly by their daughter Lena, who grows about ten different kinds of salad, three varieties of potato, strawberries, asparagus and a range of 50 vegetables and herbs. Of course, these go straight to the hotel’s kitchen. Berry fruit and apples from their seven full-size trees find their way there as well and are turned into apple vinegar, juice, jam and spirits. The Steiners are convinced: “People want to have what they see growing here on their plates.” They are proud of the fact too that they haven’t needed to buy jam for the last 30 years.(Picture: Looking from the garden to the viewing side of the hotel)
 

Friedrich Steiner estimates that 95 % of the guests occupying the 29 rooms in the hotel are organic enthusiasts. There are 8,000 overnight stays a year, and the average length of stay is 6.5 days (2 days higher than the average in Mals). Two-thirds of guests come from Germany, the rest from Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Netherlands. Every Thursday, Lena offers guests a tour round the garden and the opportunity to see how they grow herbs. She completed a four-year apprenticeship in horticulture near Bolzano, followed by a year’s training  to become a certified herbalist. As the 22-year-old explains: “I worked on an organic herb farm and then in a conventional market garden.” Now she’s in an ideal position to explain to the guests the benefits and uses in the kitchen of ground elder, goose foot, amaranth and ground ivy. Using the ingredients they grow in their own garden, they create dishes of the most adventurous kind. (Picture: Herbalist Lena Steiner focuses on what they grow themselves in the hotel garden)

After all, who has ever heard of chickweed ice cream, orache cream or potato-bacon tartar on buckshorn plantain?  Herb chef Friedrich Steiner and his son Georg (25), who graduated from a hotel training college, conjure up wonderful creations from the cultivated and wild herbs in the garden. With an attractive decoration on the plate, they succeed in offering their guests special culinary delights and causing them to see herbs in a new light. What they don’t source from their own garden comes from organic gardeners in the region or from Ökoring, a Bavarian contract partner of the organic hotel. Although about half of the meals are vegetarian, you can also enjoy excellent dishes with chicken, lamb, beef, veal or pork, all of which are sourced from organic farmers in Vinschgau. (Picture on left: Splendidly decorated natural cuisine)

Following the tour of the garden guests can watch a demonstration of how herbs are dried and then finely chopped. The herbs are mixed with salt and pepper to make a fine herb salt that is put into little jars and given to all guests to be used at home as a momento of their stay. “It’s the base of all our recipes,” Friedrich Steiner discloses. (Picture: Lena Steiner cutting up herbs)

Starting this year, you no longer need a car of your own if you want to go on trips in the surrounding countryside – thanks to the free VinschgauCard that all guests are given with their room key. “We left our car at home this year,” an elderly lady explains to an amazed fellow passenger sitting next to her in the train from Mals to Meran. She is delighted: “In our hotel everyone was given a one-week ticket covering the whole of South Tyrol free of charge.” This now applies to many hotels in Vinschgau, resulting in less traffic on the roads and to well used trains that run every hour. Buses from the bus station in Mals transport tourists and hotel guests shorter distances to the lifts in the valley. (Picture: Herb seminar in the garden)  

Friedrich Steiner organizes an excursion for his hotel guests once a week. With a knowledgeable guide, off they all go into the mountains. “We explore the so-called Waalwege, paths that run along the irrigation channels, or visit the dairy cow pastures at around 2,000 metres. As part of the five-hour trek, as well as a stop for a snack there’s cheese tasting on one of the pastures where the milk is processed. The walkers also get information about baking bread or making sausage from venison.” (Picture: A rotatable bed to see a breathtaking view. A different kind of picture – looking out of the window instead of at TV)

One of Friedrich Steiner’s productive hobbies is making his own spirits. “I use up to 10,000 kg (10 t) a year of fruit that I get from farmers in the vicinity,” Mr Steiner explains. This means that they preserve old full-size trees typical of this landscape because the farmers benefit from selling their fruit. Of course, they produce distillates mainly in the years when there’s a surplus of fruit, and that’s when the price is right. The cherries (sweet and sour), apricots, pears and plums are mashed and distilled to produce high-quality spirits. Steiner likes showing interested visitors round the distillery he has set up in the basement of his house.

After dinner on Monday evenings is the time for tasting his range of spirits. Nine or ten people taste what he has produced in the D-lounge (Distillates & Design), that was opened a year ago. Every Sunday evening, there’s a gourmet meal with spirits: five different spirits to accompany five courses, each explained in full. At the end of their holiday, guests love buying the 17 different spirits (alcohol content 40 %) and the 14 low-sugar liqueurs (alcohol content 20 %) as souvenirs. “They are frequently the ambassadors on whose recommendation new guests come and stay here,” says a delighted Mr Steiner. As well as the distillery, you find in the basement a Finnish sauna, a Turkish steam bath, plunge pool, Kneipp pool, a luxury shower with multiple spray variants, a panorama relaxing caldarium, an infrared booth and a whole-body solarium. (Picture: The comfortable D-Lounge, with plenty of bottles on the decorative shelves)

An especially important venture for the Steiner family is the ecological conversion of their hotel that they have been gradually carrying out in recent years. A 20,000 litre rainwater tank collects water for flushing the toilets and watering the garden, and for 30 years a 50 m² solar array on the roof has been delivering hot water for the guests’ bathrooms. They draw heat from the local heat and power plant, and they also use the waste heat from a dozen cooling units for heating water. In the winter of 2013/14, half the house was insulated with a 20 cm thick layer of wood fibre and cork panels. In the next few years, another two storeys will be insulated in the same way. “We use only indigenous wood like larch, stone pine and alder,” says Steiner. The surface is treated with high-quality Auro oil, which enhances the pleasant natural wood aroma in the newly renovated rooms. Most rooms have a  power disconnector switch so that electro-sensitive people get a good night’s sleep. (Picture: Panorama Hotel’s environment logo)

In 2001, when the Bio-Hotels association was founded, naturally no one knew how it would develop. “In Ludwig Gruber we had from the outset someone who supported our ideas 100 %,” says Steiner. To this day Gruber - now in conjunction with Thomas Richter – manages the association with great charm and skill. Last year, the roughly 100 member establishments logged around a million overnight stays. Their total purchasing volume is €12m. Cooperation partners are the Bioland association in Germany, Bio-Austria in Austria and Bio-Suisse in Switzerland. The Bio-Hotels association has members in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, France, Greece and Slovenia.

(Pictures: Cosy room with tiled stove, breakfast buffet, bar for cocktails and spirits)












 

The Bio-Hotels association issues guidelines prescribing that all the food used by members must be organic. Conventional food is only permissible in up to three instances per establishment when, for example, regional specialities are not yet available in organic quality. Guests can see clearly what these exceptions are because they are identified as non-organic on menus. Food from wild-caught animals and fish (for example, deer, stag, trout) and certified ecological wild collecting (herbs, mushrooms and berries) are permitted. Sea fish can only be sourced from certified sustainable fishing.

At the end of last year, Bio-Hotels redesigned their brand identity and created various categories, so that there are now hotels for families, holidays, conferences, business travel, wellness, weddings and celebrations, and health. Another new feature: an overview of around 70 certified organic restaurants. As Ludwig Gruber points out: “In times of increasingly difficult markets, profiling is the major factor!” The association reports that the latest, and for Austria very exciting, new member hotels are the hotel village Grüner Baum in Bad Gastein and the Naturhotel Family Alm Tirol in Biberwir. The new members are listed under the rubric New.

Tip:
Website of Biohotel Panorama (in German and Italian) and BioHotels/Panorama (in English)
Website of BioHotels (in English)