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

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Spiral collection of dry-farmed tomato varieties such as Big Rainbow from Erich Stekovics in Burgenland featured in Austria's 2023 Koch-Campus.
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Big Rainbow Love in Burgenland

ByUrsula Heinzelmann

Calling from the expansive, flat landscape that forms the western edge of the Pannonian Puszta steppe flatlands, Erich Stekovics is a lone voice in the tomato world. Where others seek high yield and hardy reliability, Stekovics makes the case for flavor and site. He and his wife Priska belong to the tiny share of Austrian farmers cultivating tomatoes without the cover of glass or foil, and without irrigation. At the eponymous estate in Frauenkirchen, the pair cultivate and safeguard several thousand varieties in the open, and in addition to chili peppers, onions, and garlic, their fields are surrounded by vines…....

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Bottle of Lagrein Riserva from Alto Adige next to a white plate of Jing Jian Rou Si beside a small bouquet

Eat + TRINK | The Yin-Yang of Lagrein and Jing Jiang Rou Si

ByJoyce Lin

TRINK Magazine | It was a wine, not a memory, that motivated Joyce Lin to make Jing Jian Rou Si: the Kellerei Kaltern 2018 Lagrein Riserva ‘Largeith.’ Recipe and pairing included.

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Weingut Blankenhorn: French Inspiration, Local Engagement
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Weingut Blankenhorn: French Inspiration, Local Engagement

ByBart De Vries

Weingut Blankenhorn It wasn’t love at first sight for Martin and Yvonne Männer of Weingut Blankenhorn in Schliengen. On a trip to Switzerland in spring 2015, they were initially disappointed by the Gutedel (a.k.a. Chasselas) they found there. Or, to be more precise: by how the vintners they encountered vinified it. But when they ordered a bottle of 18-year-old Chasselas Médinette Dézalay Grand Cru from Domaine Louis Bovard on their last night in Geneva, at the Michelin-starred Le Chat-Botté, they realized they had found the key to making a multifaceted, indeed divine Gutedel. Ever since, Langlebigkeit, or longevity, has been part of Weingut Blankenhorn’s DNA. Their wines tell a…...

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Bottle of Furztrocken Riesling wine from German estate Achim Reis in the Mosel
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What’s German for Drier Than Dry? Furztrocken, of course

ByPaula Redes Sidore

The dark wit of Berlin. Dangerously low water levels in the Rhine River. Black bread. Germany does trocken like few others. And then there’s the wine. Despite its reputation as the land of Blue Nun, more than 60 percent of the wines made in Germany are dry. And within that 60 percent, there are discernible levels of dry, drier, and driest. So dry, in fact, that there’s a strangely specific word for it. (Of course there’s a word. It’s Germany. There’s always a word.) Furztrocken. Fart Dry. Literally. As difficult to grasp as I find a term like feinherb, it’s Kinderspiel when compared to furztrocken. Then again, mindset…...

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Oliver Zeter’s Mise En Pfalz
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Oliver Zeter’s Mise En Pfalz

ByNils Kevin Puls

Zeter assesses the natural bounty of his home, the Pfalz, with the eye of a chef. The soils are his mise en place — the basis of his work — the grape varieties are the ingredients he brings to the table and the bottle. His favorite ingredient — Sauvignon Blanc — has become his trademark. This love came early: in South Africa, 1992, at the Buitenverwachting winery in Cape Town. Now, he is celebrating 15 years as a Sauvignon Blanc iconoclast himself. A recent vertical tasting spanning his first vintage in 2007 to the current release, 2021, made clear the value of following palate…...

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