Articles by Valerie Kathawala - Trink Magazine

The Insider’s Guide to Württemberg Riesling

ByValerie Kathawala July 21, 2022November 29, 2023

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…

Metal statue looking onto Germany's Franken vineyards surrounded by forest.

Germany · Franken · Learn

Franken — Germany’s Most Underrated Region

ByValerie Kathawala May 11, 2022February 11, 2024

We’ll come right out and say it: Franken (Franconia) is Germany’s most underrated region. If you still think of it as the source of wan…

Close up of Moselwein book with green cover on a wooden table

Germany · Book Review · Mosel

Book Review: “Mosel Wine”

ByValerie Kathawala March 30, 2022November 10, 2023

We like to think of Mosel wine as eternally glorious. The river valley’s nearly 2,000-year vinous history, its relics of Roman civilization and tributes to…

Mason Washington sits on a staircase with bottles of Riesling scattered around him.

Germany · Portrait

Mason Washington and the Pull of German Roots

ByValerie Kathawala February 18, 2022March 2, 2025

Mason Washington wants to set himself apart in the wine world. He’s convinced his German identity is the ticket. The 24-year-old digital media marketer grew…

Germany · Mosel

Riesling, Weed, and the Creative Cosmos of Skinny Pablo

ByValerie Kathawala December 17, 2021May 2, 2024

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…

Alto Adige

Immigrants as Vineyard Workers in Alto Adige

ByValerie Kathawala October 29, 2021November 11, 2023

A tiny pilot project created by immigrants for immigrants is taking root in the small wineries of Alto Adige-Südtirol. V.I.T.E. — Viticulture Integration Training Empowerment…

A small building half destroyed by flood is in the foreground, in the background a terraced vineyard.

Germany · Ahr · News

Flood Comes for the Ahr and Its Winemakers

ByValerie Kathawala July 19, 2021October 29, 2024

From last Wednesday night into Thursday morning, 148 liters/square meter of rain fell on the Ahr. In a normal July, the region gets about 80…

Germany · Alto Adige · Austria · Switzerland

Get to Know German-Speaking Orange Wines

ByValerie Kathawala June 23, 2021February 8, 2024

Skin-contact white wines may have their revolutionary roots in Georgia, Slovenia, and Friuli, but the umlaut zone also stakes a strong claim for orange expressions. Austria…

Germany · Austria · Interview

12 Questions for Terry Theise

ByValerie Kathawala May 19, 2021August 1, 2023

Terry Theise. Until quite recently, I would have written “an importer of German and Austrian wine who needs no introduction.” But over the past year,…

Austria · Germany

WeinGoutte: A Suitcase Winery Unpacks on New Ground

ByValerie Kathawala April 7, 2021November 9, 2023

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…

Photograph of Dr. Jose Vouillamoz dressed in a black blazer, white shirt and white hat stands in front of massive terraced vineyards with trees and cliffs in the far distance

Switzerland

José Vouillamoz on Swiss Wine Grapes

ByValerie Kathawala April 7, 2021October 15, 2023

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…

Summer view of inner courtyard with plants and stone buildings in Germany's Pfalz winegrowing region

Germany · Learn · Pfalz

Pfalz comes into its own

ByValerie Kathawala March 24, 2021February 17, 2024

The Pfalz is Germany’s second-largest wine region (by volume) — and perhaps its biggest surprise. The south-of-the-Alps feel of abundance and harmony stems from geographic…

Valerie Kathawala