Viumser Speck

“The best things comes in small packages.” It was in the spirit of this guiding motto that Robert Priller opened Viumser Speck butchers, which he has been running together with his business partner Florian Überbacher since 2004.

The pigs he sources for his much sought-after speck are exclusively barley-fed, which gives the fat its distinctive grainy texture – an unmistakeable hallmark of quality for Priller and his customers.

“The recipe for our speck and the traditional means of making it were handed down from my father,” says the master butcher, who sets the highest of importance on natural ingredients. He holds no truck with artificial ingredients.

In a process which lasts a number of months, the hams are first rubbed with salt, herbs and spice, soaked in brine and then hung, dried, smoked and left to cure in a curing room. Viumser Speck follow this exacting procedure to the letter in their production of 12,000 – 15,000 hams of speck per year, in a range which is rounded off with an array of other meat products. They are also one of the producers who guarantee genuine Speck Alto Adige PGI.

The customers in Viums/Fiumes are served by the boss in person: Customer trust is vital to the success of the company.

“Actually, it was just pure chance that when I was looking for a job as a cook or gardener in Brixen/Bressanone I couldn’t find one. I carried out an apprenticeship at the Amort butcher’s in Vahrn/Varna instead, and learned the trade during the ten years I spent there,” he says.