WINE IS OUT. SO WHAT?
This wine crisis following the unprecedented wine hype of the last 40 years will not simply pass. Yet no one seems to recognise the extent of the decline. Or want to stop it.
The Wineparty
The Wineparty
Left of the Rhine
The Markgräflerland and Alsace lie just a ridiculously few kilometres apart. And yet wine culture on both sides is completely different. We visited two winegrowers.
The Enchanted Vineyard
A vineyard in Bolivia, planted by the brutally ruling Spanish colonial masters, of all people. Today, varieties we have never heard of grow there, in exceptionally nature-oriented viticulture. It is time to discover them.
August is the new September.
Human-induced climate change is controversial – especially among supporters of a particular parliamentary party. But winegrowers know: the grapes bear loud witness to its existence. Gerhard Retter on the shift in harvest months that is here to stay
The wine world is lacking a plan for what comes next
(Dr Maximilian Schüttky / Manfred Klimek / Editorial team / Pic: Manfred Klimek) The wine world has now understood that it is in a crisis. What it has not yet understood: crises also pass. Afterwards, however, you do not automatically find yourself back where you were before. If the current development actually affects 30 or 40 per cent of the Read the full article…
The Last Picture Show: Plant old white varieties.
(Claude Auguste / Pic: Massa) In Piedmont, there is an abundance of famous wine and famous grape varieties: Barolo, Barbaresco, Nebbiolo – big names, high prices, large and small cellars, and an international clientele that has learned over decades that some of Europe’s most significant red wines come from this region. Right there, something is currently happening that is important for the future Read the full article…
Holiday wines reloaded (3). The impossible wine that became possible again: Lambrusco
(Leo Quarda / pic: Manfred Klimek) Whenever time allows, sometimes simply when everything in Vienna annoys me, I get on a plane and fly to Cyprus. Meeting friends, sitting on the terrace, living differently for a few days, and there are almost always a few bottles of wine in my luggage. Not that it Read the full article…
Holiday wines reloaded. Retsina: a late reconciliation
(Gerhard Ziegler / pic: historical archive) An evening on a terrace in Larnaca. Leo pours something red, the wine fizzes slightly, smells clean, fresh and rather seductive; I guess Italy and am at least not completely wrong, although I am wrong about everything else. After several failed attempts, Leo grins and reveals the answer: Lambrusco. This surprises me more than it Read the full article…
How do we save red wine? And is sweet wine dead? Anonymised figures from the trade
(Manfred Klimek / Editorial team) For several days now, WINEPARTY has been receiving datasets from the wine trade anonymously via a Hotmail address. These are sales figures from large retailers, passed on to us by a whistle-blower. We are publishing these figures with all due caution. We cannot establish their origin beyond doubt and cannot verify them independently. Yet the material Read the full article…
Anatomy of a winery: Rieger in the Markgräflerland. The WELT am SONNTAG column
(Manfred Klimek) Even before the first bottle is opened here, Rieger winery reveals practically everything about itself. How so? The people make it so. We are in the Markgräflerland, in Germany’s deep south-west. In the winery’s tavern, Josepha and Bernhard Rieger serve their guests. They do not look like the senior owners they are, Read the full article…