Epokale: A New Gewürtztraminer for the Ages
Digging deep with six vintages of the mine-aged iconic Gewürtztraminer Epokale from Cantina Tramin.
Digging deep with six vintages of the mine-aged iconic Gewürtztraminer Epokale from Cantina Tramin.
In addition to being an award-winning writer, artist and critic, Meg Maker occupies the artistic space at the intersection of nature and culture. She travels extensively to taste with producers, hear their stories, and see first-hand their motivations, to witness what links them to their land. Wine is food, but it's also a way into story. Meg is a Certified Specialist of Wine and member of the Circle of Wine Writers. Her writings have appeared in trade and lifestyle publications such as Pix, Art of Eating, Meininger’s Wine Business International, Serious Eats, Beverage Media, and in her own publication, Terroir Review. She lives in New Hampshire and is happiest when in the garden or the kitchen.
In slanting early morning light, a shadow crosses a vineyard. The figure moves row by row, ripping out vines and casting them onto a large, burning pyre. The blaze stretches to greet the sun as it rises above a mountainous horizon. There is fire from all points of the compass. Death is in the air. The culprit is a phytoplasm fatal to Vinifera vines. Its spread is aided by the American grapevine leafhopper (Scaphoideus titanus), a dwarf cicada native to North America. As it feasts on the vines, it transmits the pathogen of what is known in German as Goldgelbe…...
What does Alsace’s new red cru signal for Pinot Noir?
For the longest time, Sekt was a dirty word. It stood for bottles of inexpensive, easy fizz with obnoxious plastic corks to be found on the street, next to the debris of spent fireworks, on New Year’s Day. Leftovers from high jinks and cheap thrills the night before. But that was then. Today, Sekt’s star is once again on the rise. We cannot even say that it is returning to its former glory because the story of German Sekt today is unprecedented and, quite literally, effervescent. It was the 20th century that destroyed with consummate efficiency what was once so promising, so frivolous,…...
What do you do when you have world-class Riesling terroirs — including some of Germany’s highest, coolest vineyards, extraordinary old vines and massale selections, and a growing cadre of hyper-talented producers who bring imagination and dedication to it all — but the world still thinks of you as a place for, well, something else? This is the predicament of Württemberg’s growers. Over the past decade, they’ve made a strong argument that Riesling should be front and center when we consider the wines of this southwestern German region. Although not everyone believes a narrowed focus benefits Württemberg’s identity (the region’s top…...
The festival where character meets connection over a glass of wine
Trink Magazine | With forests, glaciers, and vineyards that soar above 1,300 elevation, the Vinschgau remains a bastion of true cool climate wines. By Valerie Kathawala
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