“It’s the Nitrogen, Stupid!”: On Agrochemistry, Biodynamics and Wine
Above, a postcard from the German fertilizer industry of the 1920s. At the time, perspectives on soil were changing: Until then, people had spoken of plant growth…
What’s Driving Swiss Wine?
The Donatschs were never conformists. Starting in the 1970s, Thomas Donatsch of Graubünden turned the Swiss wine landscape on its head with his illegal Chardonnay…
José Vouillamoz on Swiss Wine Grapes
I’ve read about as widely on Swiss wines as an Anglophone can: the relevant chapters of Jason Wilson’s delicious Godforsaken Grapes. The late Sue Style’s…
WeinGoutte: A Suitcase Winery Unpacks on New Ground
Home is where the vines grow. We’ve all heard variations on that theme. But just how far can that idea be taken? Wein Goutte…
3 Can’t-Miss Wines from Vulkanland Steiermark
In Vulkanland Steiermark — “volcanic Styria” — the name says it all. Some 1,500 hectares of vineyard are, for the most part, sited on the…
The Many Faces of Kalterersee
Kalterersee is Alto Adige-Südtirol’s oldest DOC zone, and the most fragrant and floral expression of Vernatsch in the region.
Completer: The Answer to a Prayer
By traditional measures, my first year of college was a waste. I spent a lot of it playing cards with a gang of liberal theologians…
Heida: Pearl of the Alps
Heida is an old variety with a modern freshness planted in the Swiss Valais heights of the Visperterminen.
The Swisstory of Absinthe
Banned and beloved, feared and revered, one would assume the birth story of absinthe to be as spirited as its character. Yet its quite conventional…
In the Sign of Subtlety
Pinot Blanc is neither a distinctive cépage nor a particular grape variety – at least, not from the viewpoint of ampelography or genetics. And what there is of pure Pinot Blanc worldwide is nearly all rendered in German-speaking growing regions where it is typically known as Weissburgunder.
Germany · Austria · Rheingau · Rheinhessen
What is the Role of “Heimat” in Terroir?
For over a year, we’ve been living with a pandemic that has shut down more than just our senses of taste and smell. It has…
Germany · Franken · Pfalz · Rheinhessen
Drink More Scheu!
If there is an underdog in Germany’s largest winegrowing region, Rheinhessen, it is Scheurebe. Vinified sweet for many years, Scheurebe — pronounced SHOY-ray-beh — largely…