In Austria Saint Leopold's feast day marks the start of the heurigen, the new wine season.

People celebrate the day with outdoor wine tastings and wine picnics, often accompanied by live music. This is the day for the pilgrimage to Klosterneuberg Abbey, home of the eminent wine called Leopolsberg which the vintner monks have been making for centuries.

Leopold's Day custom called Fasselrutschen, "sliding down the cask", involves an enormous 12,000 gallon wooden barrel, commissioned by the abbot for Klosterneuberg's wine cellar in 1704. One by one people climb to the top of the cask and slide down its smooth wooden side for good luck. The rougher the side the better the luck it is said. Its reputation is as a "great leveler". Hundreds of people line up for a turn all from different classes and types.