What’s the Point of Fine Wine, Afterall?
Channeling literary theory in order to propose a new threshold test for fine wine.
Channeling literary theory in order to propose a new threshold test for fine wine.
Writer, Editor, Publisher
Paula Redes Sidore moves smoothly between the worlds of wine and words. In 2012, she founded Weinstory, a creative content and translation agency dedicated to transposing the world of German-speaking wine into English. TRINK is the natural extension of that pursuit. She is the German and Austrian regional specialist for jancisrobinson.com and a member of the Circle of Wine Writers. Paula has a Masters degree in fiction writing, and her work has been featured in jr.com, Sevenfifty Daily, Feinschmecker, and Heated. She lives on the northern wall of wine growing with her family in Bonn, Germany.
With its nearly ideal set of conditions — location, climate, indigenous varieties —Austria’s Thermenregion curiously remains an insider secret. In addition to a colorful mix of varieties common in Austria, this region just south of Vienna devotes 200 of its 2,200 hectares to the autochthonous grapes Rotgipfler and Zierfandler. They are the region’s great opportunity and are now back in growers’ sights, as illustrated by their well-deserved inclusion in the book 111 Weine aus Österreich, die man getrunken haben muss. Beyond this, some producers here are venturing into new areas, like pét-nat, while among red wines, Sankt Laurent and Pinot…...
An essay reconciling the realpolitik of Rudolf Steiner today.
Shaping our wines is like sculpting: you start with a rock and you chisel out the sculpture,” Martin Nittnaus, 34, states confidently. The arts are never far away when you speak to the oldest son of winemakers Anita and Hans Nittnaus. Like his father, who dreamt of becoming a musician, Martin never planned on a life in wine. He went to university to study English literature and philosophy. But blood is thicker than water, and this year marked his sixth vintage working the plots his father gave to him and his brother, Andreas (Andi, 31). The Nittnaus estate is in Gols,…...
This article is an excerpted chapter from We Don’t Want Any Crap in Our Wine (2019). After the book went to print, the Rennersistas informed the author that Susanne Renner left the winery, which will now be run by siblings Stefanie and Georg. In 2015, Susanne and Stefanie Renner took over the family wine business in Gols, Austria and became their parents’ bosses. In short order, the sisters converted to biodynamics and created their own line of wines, Rennersistas, in addition to the family’s traditional red Renner cuvées. Ever since, Susanne and Stefanie have reveled in the freedom of making…...
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…...
Reviving winemaking traditions on the old frontier between East and West from those with roots in both.
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