The New Teachings of Old Field Blends
·

The New Teachings of Old Field Blends

ByNils Kevin Puls

The year is 1806. The date June 17th. Privy Councilor Goethe sits in Frankfurt — high and dry. He reaches for his quill and writes a letter to a friend: “Send me some Würzburger wine, for no other wine satisfies, and I am morose without my accustomed favorite drink.”  While the line may not be poetic, the composition Johann Wolfgang von Goethe thirsted for is. The wine in question was, quite possibly, “Frentsch” (local dialect for Altfränkischer Satz or Old Franconian Mixed Set): a field blend of some 20 grape varieties, all planted, harvested, and fermented together. What once gave growers a bit of…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here
Sebastian Bördthäuser at Austrian Koch.Campus's Swine Wine event behind a row of wine bottles from Wagram winegrower Bernard Ott

Six Swine Wines in the Steiermark

BySebastian Bordthäuser

12/17/2021 Swine Wines in the Steiermark By Sebastian Bordthäuser ​ In mid-October, Koch.Campus invited guests to a first-class pig-out in Trautmannsdorf, in Steiermark. “Going Whole Hog!” was the stated theme: two days of digging into the question of what differentiates the various heritage breeds from one another, and which provides the best meat. This combination of swine and wine catapulted the topic into the Champions League, and raised equally enthralling questions: Is there such a thing as terroir pork? Which wines are best suited to pair with various breeds? How much raw pork can I sample at 8 in the…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here
Tom Litwan

Tom Litwan

ByDaniel Schönberger

​Trained mason Tom Litwan began crafting elegant yet edgy, biodynamic, low-intervention Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays in Switzerland’s Aargau back in 2006. Today his wines play in the same league as top French and German producers. Normally, the Aargau is better known for its notoriously jammed locations along the A1 highway connecting Zürich with Bern and French-speaking Switzerland. The canton’s sole claim to gustatory fame is a carrot cake, Aargauer Rüeblitorte. Litwan’s decision to make wine here may initially surprise, but looking a bit closer, it actually makes a lot of sense. Before phylloxera bedeviled the old world at the end of…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here
What to Drink When a Somm Comes to Dinner
· · ·

What to Drink When a Somm Comes to Dinner

ByChris Losh

It is Friday night and I’m terrified. In 24 hours, a top sommelier is coming to our house for dinner. A sommelier who puts together the wine lists for a global restaurant group; a sommelier who has spent over 30 years training more somms than I’ve seen typos on a wine list; a sommelier who matches food and wine the way the rest of us match our Sunday outfits. And tomorrow, I’m responsible for the wine. My wife draws up a shopping list for the meal, blissfully unconcerned. “We’re not a restaurant,” she says, “why should she expect Michelin-starred cooking?”…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here
Riesling, Weed, and the Creative Cosmos of Skinny Pablo
·

Riesling, Weed, and the Creative Cosmos of Skinny Pablo

ByValerie Kathawala

On an early autumn night, in a quietly insiderish neighborhood of Queens, New York, deep beats and warping, hypnotic sound penetrate the stillness. Trapezoids of light slant onto the dark sidewalk through the broad windows of a corner restaurant, the music’s source. Silhouetted figures mingle and shift in projection.   Robert Dentice, noted collector of Riesling and vinyl, stands near the door, a bottle of Keller Abts E — one of Germany’s, if not the world’s, most coveted wines — in hand, greeting new arrivals with hugs and heavy pours. Inside, there’s an invitingly louche aura of fin-de-siècle Vienna or Berlin. A slew of wine is open, almost…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here
It Takes Two: Heidi Mäkinen and Gernot Kollmann
· ·

It Takes Two: Heidi Mäkinen and Gernot Kollmann

ByPaula Redes Sidore

What do one of the Mosel’s oldest winemaking estates and a country with a fledgling wine-drinking culture have in common? The answer, as with most things in life, is Riesling. “German Riesling has become a synonym for white wine in Finland,”” says Heidi Mäkinen MW, Portfolio Manager for Viinitie Oy, one of that country’s largest importers of German wine. “Finns like the freshness and fruit, and Riesling is one of those wine words that’s incredibly easy to pronounce.” As Viinitie’s new portfolio manager, Mäkinen, for whom work and private life has little separation, has kicked off her holidays 2,000 kilometers south of her…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here
Wines with a View at Winkler-Hermaden
· ·

Wines with a View at Winkler-Hermaden

ByJill Barth

12/17/2021 Wines with a View at Winkler-Hermaden By Jill Barth ​ The story of Weingut Winkler-Hermaden and its home in a striking 11th-century castle starts with a “small, tough” woman. That woman, Magdalene Helene, was current proprietor Georg Winkler-Hermaden’s grandmother. When he found her diary, which she kept from her arrival at the Schloss Kapfenstein in 1916 through WWII, he “began to read and couldn’t stop until the book was finished.”  In 1916, Magdalene Helene came to the castle as a young woman to work as a maid. Just two years later, her employer died and bequeathed the Schloss and…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here
Eat + TRINK | Go Austrian with Tafelspitz This Holiday
·

Eat + TRINK | Go Austrian with Tafelspitz This Holiday

ByEmily Campeau

12/17/2021 Eat & TRINK | Go Austrian for Your Holiday Feast By Emily Campeau ​ Tomato season rolled right into the root vegetable months, and here we are, planning end-of-the-year festivities. Whether you’re looking to ditch the old classics for a fresh recipe to impress your guests or make dinner for two with plenty left over for a next-day sandwich, I suggest we look to Austria for inspiration.  Tafelspitz is a dish closely associated with Viennese cuisine and is generally considered to be Austria’s national dish. The first time I crossed paths with it was at one of those distinguished…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here