The Wineparty
(Manfred Klimek / pic: Weingut Emil Bauer) Wine and the choice of words (WamS, August 2011) I cannot bear hearing it any more. And it has been annoying me for years. People are constantly telling me that this evening, while having dinner or relaxing, they are going to “drink a nice glass of wine”. Or – much more daringly still – an entire Read the full article…
(Manfred Klimek / Editorial team / animated pic: runwayml) There is hardly a professional group that experiences climate change more directly than winegrowers. They see the vegetation not in statistics, but in the vineyard. Budburst occurs earlier than it did just a few decades ago. The harvest begins increasingly often as early as August. Heatwaves alter acidity levels, water balance and aromas. Hail, Read the full article…
(Klimek / Editorial team / animated pic: runwayml) 41 degrees? Even the experienced wine drinker loses the desire for wine. By now at the latest, even the most dogmatic wine enthusiasts lose their dignity: people who otherwise spend hours discussing maceration times, limestone soils and Burgundy clones suddenly find themselves standing in front of the fridge, thinking a thought they never dared to think: Read the full article…
(Manfred Klimek) Before the train arrives in Freiburg in Baden, I have to complete my column from a fortnight ago with a few wines from the Domäne Wachau estate discussed in that column. Although the estate makes several varieties splendidly – including some very rare white grapes such as Neuburger and Roter Veltliner – I am sticking with the best-known Austrian Read the full article…
(Klimek & Auguste) It begins with a sentence that many wine enthusiasts have unlearned: “A glass of white wine, please.” Not which vintage. Not which vineyard site. Not which winegrower. No look at the wine list. No discussion of élevage, acidity, lees ageing or scores. Simply a glass of white wine. A glass of summer. For a week, I did exactly that in Vienna Read the full article…
(Claude Auguste / animated pic: runwayml) When Piero Antinori (even more so his brother Ludwig) and the still largely unknown oenologist Giacomo Tachis decided in the early 1970s to ignore Chianti's rigid rules, it was more than a technical-philosophical decision. At that time, the regulations still required white grapes in Chianti. Antinori did without them, uncompromisingly opting for Read the full article…
(Manfred Klimek / animated pic: runwayml) Lukas Herrmann contacted me. He is an expert in wine de-alcoholisation. And in 16 minutes he explains very precisely what it is about. And what else is coming in terms of aroma extraction in de-alcoholised wine. Listen! And I guarantee: the presenter hardly gets a word in edgeways. Very good. https://wineparty.wine/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Alkoholfreier-Wein.m4a
(Gerhard Retter / Editorial / Photo: Manfred Klimek) South Tyrol is small. At least on the map. Just under 5,800 hectares of vineyards between the Alps, Dolomites, apple orchards, steep slopes and terraces. A wine region that can be described in a few figures – and yet eludes every simple description. For South Tyrol is not a wine-growing region that can be understood through hectares, litres or grape varieties. Read the full article…
(Editorial) Two years of Wineparty. Two years of journalistic responsibility against the uniformity that has long afflicted large parts of today's wine journalism. Two years of texts without regard for PR speak, points diplomacy or that sterile good behaviour which is now spreading through the world of pleasure as it is in all areas of society. Going into hiding and simply not wanting to offend anyone. We want to Read the full article…
(Manfred Klimek / Photo: Gergo Pejko / animated pic: runwayml) Before I settle for a few weeks in the south-west German wine-growing region of Markgräflerland – a region that absolutely needs to move more into the spotlight – I am making a stopover in the Wachau. At a cooperative that has no equal not only in Austria, Domäne Wachau, one of the most astonishing Read the full article…
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