Eat + TRINK: For the Love of Marillenfleck

By

Martin Sorge

•

•

Volume 22, Digging Deeper •
,
A cake with almonds on top on a white plate with a bottle of golden-colored wine and a glass in the background
Marillenfleck, photo credit: Martin Sorge

The Wachau stands tall as one of Austria’s most storied wine regions. Terraced vineyards of Grüner Veltliner, Riesling, and other varieties line the bend of the mighty Danube. But grapes aren’t the only iconic fruit here.  As a nerdy baker and wine nerd, I am intrigued by why particular grape or fruit varieties thrive in specific areas and what makes that terroir so special. I swear by Montmorency tart cherries from Northern Michigan just as I revere Grüner Veltliner from the Wachau. When I discovered that the Wachau is also known as a source of my second-favorite fruit to bake…

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here
Martin Sorge

Martin Sorge is a food writer, recipe developer, and home baker based in Chicago. Martin was named the winner of the most recent season of the Great American Baking Show. He also spent many years working in the wine industry in Chicago and Indiana. You can follow Martin on Instagram and subscribe to his newsletter, Great Bakes.

Similar Posts

Discovering Austria’s Thermenregion
·

Discovering Austria’s Thermenregion

ByNils Kevin Puls

To mark a recent milestone anniversary, Austria’s association of traditional wine estates (ÖTW) invited into its fold a region that is in many regards the epitome of Herkunft, or origins. The Thermenregion, often held up as Austria’s Burgundy, brings a suitably deep and glorious wine tradition. The ÖTW’s intake process for the Thermenregion is in the final stages of fine-tuning, reports chairman Michael Moosbrugger. Most likely, white wines from Erste Lage, or premier cru, sites from the 2022 vintage will be the first to be classified, followed by the reds. “In joining the ÖTW, it was crucial that the region’s…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here
A Queer-Forward Wine Shop Gives New Wings to Umlaut Wines
·

A Queer-Forward Wine Shop Gives New Wings to Umlaut Wines

ByValerie Kathawala

​March 25, 2024 Update: Schmetterling has closed. It’s owners hope to reopen in the future. Are there parallels between German and Austrian wines, small-scale farming, and the queer community? If so, the most essential may be a shared need for safe space. Schmetterling, a queer-forward natural wine and vinyl shop that opened this summer in rural Vermont, aims to offer just that. By prioritizing the needs of communities at — admittedly starkly unequal — risk, owners Danielle Pattavina and Erika Dunyak have created an unlikely outpost for low-intervention German, Austrian, and other Alpine wines. The shop is both an incubator…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here
Austrian winemaker Michael Moosbrugger leans against wine casks in his Schloss Gobelsburg estate.
·

In Conversation with Michael Moosbrugger, Part II

ByDavid Schildknecht

​It’s hard to think of any one who has had greater influence over where Austrian wine is heading than Schloss Gobelsburg proprietor and Austria’s Traditionsweingüter (ÖTW) chairman Michael Moosbrugger. In part two of their conversation, David Schildknecht sounds out Moosbrugger on classification, appellation, and how music can illuminate wine. The following interview – translated and edited by the interviewer – was conducted in writing as well as orally in spring 2022. Occasional excerpts from earlier conversations and correspondence have been interpolated. Consolidation under topical headings as well as the insertion of punctuation were at the interviewer’s discretion in an effort…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here
Non-vintage Is Timeless 

Non-vintage Is Timeless 

ByNils Kevin Puls

​ Was everything really better in the past? Well, people were at least more patient. Vaccines were developed over the course of years. Under Communism in eastern Germany it could take up to a decade to get a car. OK, bad examples. But even food and drink were given more time. Today, fermentation and preservation are back on the front burner in kitchens — and in cellars, too.  Vintners typically work within the natural rhythms of the year, giving their wines time in cask or tank until just before the next harvest. But some are stepping deeper into the past…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here
Gemischter Satz, Mixed Messages
· ·

Gemischter Satz, Mixed Messages

ByTom Hewson

I reach down to the baggage carousel and slip the strap over my shoulder, the weight of a month’s traveling slowly spreading through my frame, equalizing itself. I pause. Something feels wrong. There is a dampness between my shoulder blades and a smell that doesn’t belong: windfall cherries, woodsmoke. I look down to see a small, red pool forming behind my heels. A man in a yellow jacket reaches for a walkie-talkie.  The source is a now-leaking bottle of Fritz Wieninger’s Pinot Noir Select 2006, naively swaddled in pair-upon-pair of walking socks. It’s a memento of one of those evenings…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here