The Wineparty
(Manfred Klimek) There are a few rare, recurring moments in the life of a wine tinkerer that quietly bring you to your knees – humility & kowtow. Completely without bells, without a drum roll, without the inflationary cheers that are lavished on so many trivialities of our day. Simply: you sit there, look at bottles – and realise that you are currently witnessing a Read the full article…
(Manfred Klimek / Photo: Ludwig von Kapff – wine merchant) The Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates, or VDP for short, has set standards for decades. It was avant-garde when others were still considering how to market Germany’s quality wines. Yet the symbol that has accompanied it for almost a hundred years belongs to an age that reacts to symbols considerably more sensitively than ever Read the full article…
(Manfred Klimek / Winemaker in photo: Pollerhof, Weinviertel) On wine, change and reality I was supposed to speak in Oppenheim on the Rhine yesterday. At an event organised by the state government. On wine, change and reality. A so-called keynote speech. No idea what that is supposed to be – but gladly. Yet Deutsche Bahn had other plans for me. And Read the full article…
(Manfred Klimek / WELT am SONNTAG) I am in the Kremstal, in Lower Austria, where the terroir is often identical to that of the prominent neighbouring region of the Wachau. In Senftenberg, a linear village that actually offers more space to rocks than to houses, a young winemaker is working who is currently ranking highly in the assessments of many wine testers – including those at Robert Parker – Read the full article…
(Manfred Klimek / editorial team) Every few months, a reliable article pops up somewhere claiming that terroir can neither be smelled nor tasted. Then the usual applause machines cheer, those that would most like to reduce wine culture to two categories: foolish displays of distinction and imagination. All that is missing is for them to realise that wine in South Africa and Namibia is the legacy of Read the full article…
(Manfred Klimek / Björn Grebner – photo) I am sitting in the warm light of the last warm rays of sunshine of an autumn that, as so often by now, is far too warm, in the garden of a Franconian inn (inn always sounds strange, but it is what it is in the plural) – so; I am sitting in the inn, four bottles, four glasses in front of me, each with Read the full article…
(by Manfred Klimek) “Born in Pain” – ten years ago, this was the title of a Tatort episode with Felix Murot (Ulrich Tukur), which focused less on murders (of which there are many in this Tatort) than on insight. A film about wounding and self-questioning. About what remains when one person falls and another gets back up. Perhaps Read the full article…
(Manfred Klimek / WELT am SONNTAG) Wine critic for WELT am SONNTAG for 15 years. Alongside the column, every week below the recipes of the brilliant chef Volker Hobl, there is a wine tip from me to accompany one of Hobl’s dishes – usually very Mediterranean, very modern and very healthy cuisine. Recently, I have increasingly been asked to share a few of these Read the full article…
(Manfred Klimek text & photo) He sits at the table, his hands initially still, then patting the bottle of Riesling, the green bottle on the table, with the saint, the bishop, on the label – this little Baroque theatre that has been telling wine connoisseurs and casual drinkers alike since 1961: Nothing fashionable is invented here, here contemporary winemaking is always regarded as Read the full article…
(Manfred Klimek / WELT am SONNTAG) When we look at the vineyards in California or Oregon this autumn, we see nothing less than a scenario that makes one wonder: around thirty per cent of the grapes in the two main US growing regions are not expected to be harvested this year. Not because the weather failed to produce suitable grapes for harvesting, but simply because the Read the full article…
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