The Wineparty
(Claude Auguste / animated pic: runwayml) There was once a time when Europe, in fact the whole world, knew pretty much exactly what it wanted to drink. Not in the sense of “discovery” or “terroir discourse”, but quite practically: What is on the list, what do people know, what do they order without thinking. White wine was not a Read the full article…
(Manfred Klimek / animated pic: runwayml) Podcasts: that is for the rich. The poor, chronically underfunded Wineparty can only afford IPhone interviews that sound bad. But they do have substance, instead of waffle. Lenz Moser V, involved in several projects in Tokaj, tells us in 20 fascinating minutes how things work at the Hungarian state-owned company Grand Tokaj, why Read the full article…
(Editorial team / animated pic: runwayml / study: Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB) in cooperation with foreign institutes of the same kind, 2025/26) Maps like the one above sometimes tell us more than entire studies. At first glance, it reduces Europe to colours – red, blue, and a few undecided transitions in between. But behind these colours lies one of the Read the full article…
(Manfred Klimek / animated pic: runwayml) Hungary is electing a new parliament on Sunday. For the first time in years, pollsters and political scientists believe the opposition could replace Viktor Orbán’s Fidez government. Before I take a look tomorrow at Fidez’s political influence on winegrowing – which I also witnessed myself – today we go back to 2023, Read the full article…
(Manfred Klimek) Some movements begin as a corrective and end as a campaign. And there are campaigns that work on intensifying their own position for so long that they eventually implode. The sober and dry movement, which has argued against wine consumption with remarkable vehemence since January 2023, seems to have reached precisely this point. What began as a public-health initiative, Read the full article…
(Claude Auguste / Photo: Meinklang winery / animated pic: runwayml) There is hardly any symbol that is as charged in early spring as the egg. At Easter it is painted, hidden and searched for – as a strange metaphorical promise of life and new beginnings – perhaps also a little as consolation for the fact that everything starts all over again; including Read the full article…
(Manfred Klimek / WELT am SONNTAG / Photo: Klimek / animated pic: runwayml) Roland Velich talks about wine as if it were geopolitics. That is irritating. But Velich, 63 years old and a winemaker in Großhöflein, a municipality just south of Eisenstadt, the capital of the Austrian Burgenland – and known for the magnificent Blaufränkisch wines of his Moric winery in Read the full article…
(Sebastian Höpfner / Manfred Klimek – editorial team / animated pic: Rutz & runwayml) I thought for a long time about whether I should write this down at all. Because so much is happening right now. Because the wine world is changing as profoundly as it has in a long time. And because much of it is not easy to grasp. Drinking habits are changing. Young people Read the full article…
(Manfred Klimek / using a source from drinksbusiness.com / animated pic: runwayml) The wine world loves simple explanations. It is no different from many other sectors in that respect. For years, direct sales were one of these simple explanations and solutions. Too many winemakers sell directly, it was said. The trade would be hollowed out, the market damaged. A neat narrative Read the full article…
(Manfred Klimek) Week after week, a wine recommendation from me appears in WELT AM SONNTAG beneath the recipe of the week. It is precisely chosen, often tasted very consciously – and yet unfortunately remains little more than a marginal note. Unlike the column, which presumably many more people read. Time, then, to publish these tips individually. Read the full article…
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