Interview Johannes Zillinger, Weinviertel

Tags

Austria, biodynamic, demeter, johannes, velue, weinviertel, zillinger

Name: Johannes Zillinger

Winery: Bioweingut Zillinger

Town/Country: Weinviertel, Austria

Johannes inspecting his concrete amphorae

1. Which spot in your vineyard is the most special and why?

Definitely our Kellerberg vineyard. There, mainly the old vine Grüner Veltliner and Sauvignon Blanc are growing on lime-sandstone, but also several different herbs are flourishing. The Sauvignon Blanc grapes are used for one of our newest creations Numen Fumé Blanc. Another reason why I prefer this vineyard the most is because of the delicious herbal flavors one can taste in the air.

Healthy vineyard

2. If you link the dots in your life, which experience was the most crucial relating to how you make your wine today?

I would say the wonderful trip to Georgia, in the Middle East, before I ordered the amphora the first time.

Johannes Sr started organic farming more than 30 years ago

3. What kind of music do you enjoy listening to when making wine in your cellar?

Of course only classical hard rock or punk rock.

Today Zillinger is certified by Demeter (biodynamic)

4. Name a regional dish from your area, which matches best with one of your wines.

I am living close to the border of Slovakia. The river that is forming the border is called March and is full of carp fish. These carp are prepared with lots of sweet pepper and garlic and are fried in the pan. And to accompany this delicious fish dish I would recommend our Grüner Veltliner Reflexion Kellerberg.

Mineralic Gruner

5. Name a restaurant from your recent travels around the world, which changed the way you thought about food and why?

I am a really good-natured person, who loves to eat great food. Therefore, I know all the good restaurants around my place. And my favorite one is called, “3er Wirt”, which is around the corner. It is a cozy place that has its own lake with fishes and moreover they also cook their own game meat.

Velue symbol the butterfly

6. If your wine would die, who or what would it come back as (person/animal)?

I am a hundred percent sure, that my wine would become a magnificent butterfly.

Interview Gary Mills, Jamsheed, Victoria

Tags

Gary Mills, Jamsheed, Paul Draper, Ridge Vineyards, syrah, victoria, Yarra Valley

Name: Gary Mills

Winery: Jamsheed

Town/Country: Melbourne Victoria

self-taught winemaker

Which spot in your vineyard is the most special and why?

I don’t own any of my own vineyards and instead have long-term relationships with my growers.  Standing in the middle of the Garden Gully vineyard, planted sometime in the late 1800’s, and looking at a treasured piece of Australian viticultural history makes me feel very humble and proud to be able to continue that story.

If you link the dots in your life, which experience was the most crucial relating to how you make your wine today?

A five-week internship with Ridge Vineyards in Santa Cruz, USA that turned into a 2 year full-time position.  Paul Draper taught me pretty much everything I know about winemaking.

“all I know about winemaking is from Paul Draper”

What kind of music do you enjoy listening to when making wine in your cellar?

A mix of indy garage punk, country and soul.

Name a regional dish from your area, which matches best with one of your wines.

Black Berkshire Pork chops and Beechworth Syrah

loyal companions

Name a restaurant from your recent travels around the world, which changed the way you thought about food and why?

Giro Giro, Kyoto Japan. Incredible deconstructed interpretation of traditional Japanese Kaiseki.  Brilliant, thoughtful food in a superb atmosphere.  Just make sure you take a lot of cash – don’t get stuck with your credit card like I did.

If your wine would die, who or what would it come back as (person/animal)?

Elvis!

Syrah from varying Yarra Valley soils

Interview Stephane Ogier, Ampuis, Rhone

Tags

ampuis, cote rotie, michel ogier, rhone, seyssuel, stephane ogier, syrah

Name: Stephane Ogier

Winery: Domaine M & S Ogier

Town/Country: Ampuis, France

“the leading craftsmen from steep hillside
vineyards” Robert Parker

Which spot in your vineyard is the most special and why?

Here, in Côte-Rôtie, we are very lucky to have a mosaic of terroirs. Each one has its own history, its own characteristics, and its own taste. It is this richness that makes the identity of Côte-Rôtie and its particularity. So it is too difficult to choose one spot, it is the plurality that is the most special and exciting. And what I prefer is revealing in my wines the specificity of each terroir.

Steep granitic vineyards

If you link the dots in your life, which experience was the most crucial relating to how you make your wine today?

I was very lucky to travel a lot before coming back to the family wine estate. I spent some years in South Africa, which was really exciting, but I think the most crucial experience was my 4 years in Burgundy.  It is in Burgundy that I learned about the subtlety between a Village, a Premier Cru and a Grand Cru and it helped me a lot to classify my terroirs today.

What kind of music do you enjoy listening to when making wine in your cellar?

I always listen to music that makes me happy and gives me positive energy! I usually listen to radio actually in the cellar, with very eclectic choices, from pop to classic music.

Name a regional dish from your area, which matches best with one of your wines.

We are very lucky in Ampuis to be surrounded by legendary restaurants, since the region (quite close to Lyon) is the cradle of French Gastronomy. Mythical chefs like Fernand Point who ran La Pyramide restaurant (one of the first 3 Michelin stars in the 50s) made Pigeon legs and supremes, agria fondant potatoes with cocoa, dressed with Tonka bean sauce.

Name a restaurant from your recent travels around the world, which changed the way you thought about food and why?

La Pyramide restaurant, with today’s Chef Mr Patrick Henriroux, who is a magician to sublimate our wines with its cooking.

blind folded during work

If your wine would die, who or what would it come back as (person/animal)?

This is a difficult question to answer! I think it could come back as a horse, because it is a very fine and elegant animal, but with a strong character, the perfect alliance between strength and elegance.  In Europe, the horse is associated with power and richness, but it is also known as a great friend for humans, as the wine I think!

Syrah from Seyssuel, as good as Cote Rotie at half the price

Interview Bruno Lorenzon, Domaine Lorenzon

Tags

bruno lorenzon, burgundy, carline, domaine lorenzon, mercurey, Pinot Noir

Name: Bruno Lorenzon

Winery: Domaine Lorenzon

Town/Country: Mercurey, France

1. Which spot in your vineyard is the most special and why?

The slope on top of the Champs Martin vineyard.  It is very chalky, not much clay and lots of stones, which gives our wine its purity and elegance.

2. If you link the dots in your life, which experience was the most crucial relating to how you make your wine today?

To have worked all around the wine world, and come back to Mercurey, realizing how lucky we are to inherit such great terroir.

Carline comes from the top part of the slope

3. What kind of music do you enjoy listening to when making wine in your cellar?

It varies a lot between classical, reggae and at time pop music.

4. Name a regional dish from your area, which matches best with one of your wines.

Without a doubt Cote du Boeuf!

5. Name a restaurant from your recent travels around the world, which changed the way you thought about food and why?

Joel Robuchon in Tokyo for its finesse and beauty.

6. If your wine would die, who or what would it come back as (person/animal)?

A great cyclist with a lot of energy!

Interview Agustin Carrión Olivares, Barahonda

Tags

Agustin Carrión Olivares, barahonda, carro, monastrell, tranco, winemaker interview, yecla

 

Overseeing Monastrell grapes

Name: Agustin Carrión Olivares

Winery: Bodegas Barahonda

Town/Country: Yecla Spain

1. Which spot in your vineyard is the most special and why?

Campo Arriba, this is the name of an area in the north of Yecla, where the altitude is 700-800 metres above the sea level. The soil is limestone and gravel. In this area are the oldest vines, that produce very concentrate grapes with a small production but high quality.

modern winery

2. If you link the dots in your life, which experience was the most crucial relating to how you make your wine today?

The most important moment was, when the Winery Barahonda was built. Previously I was working with the same family, in the old Winery Bodegas Antonio Candela. In Barahonda the philosophy is produce quality bottled wine under D.O. Yecla.

3. What kind of music do you enjoy listening to when making wine in your cellar?

During the harvest I like listening rock music like AC/DC.

4. Name a regional dish from your area, which matches best with one of your wines.

The dishes queso frito con tomate match with the wine Carro, and arroz con caracoles match with the wine Tranco.

paella with snails

5. Name a restaurant from your recent travels around the world, which changed the way you thought about food and why?

“Mesón el Lagar de Isilla” Aranda de Duero, Burgos.  The dish “Lechazo Asado” is very tradicional in Aranda de Duero.  I was surprised with this dish, the meat has Origin Denomination of Castilla y León and this food and Ribera del Duero wines, are completely involved.

6. If your wine would die, who or what would it come back as (person/animal)?

A lion with personality, powerful and elegance.

Old vines Monastrell

 

Interview Christoph Wachter; Wachter Wiesler

Tags

Austria, Blaufrankisch, burgenland, Christoph wachter, eisenberg, wachter wiesler

Shooting star at 24 years old

Name: Christoph Wachter

Winery: Wachter-Wiesler

Town/Country: Eisenberg/Burgenland, Austria

1. Which spot in your vineyard is the most special and why?

It is a parcel named “Steinweg” (rocky path) on the Eisenberg.  It gives the most spicy and aromatic grapes and the barrel with the wine made from grapes from the Steinweg is always distinctive.

warm slate

2. If you link the dots in your life, which experience was the most crucial relating to how you make your wine today?

My practical work with Dirk Niepoort at his Quinta de Nápoles in Portugal’s Douro Valley in 2009.  It influenced my attitude towards terroir, minerality and freshness in wine.

3. What kind of music do you enjoy listening to when making wine in your cellar?

Nothing special like Mozart or so… whatever I like to hear I play in the cellar and this is mixed from rock to house, sometimes smooth, sometimes hard.

4. Name a regional dish from your area, which matches best with one of your wines.

Braised cheek from the “Zickentaler Moorochse”; these are Angus- and Galloway oxens grazing on the peatland meadows of the Zickenbach, just a few miles away. Together with my Blaufränkisch Weinberg this is a really autochthon dish!

Blaufrankisch, Austria’s answer to Pinot Noir

4. Name a restaurant from your recent travels around the world, which changed the way you thought about food and why?

The Cordobar in Berlin. A wine bar with relaxed ambience but excellent food, super service and super wines.  Easy and uncomplicated on a high level.

5. If your wine would die, who or what would it come back as (person/animal)?

I would love the idea it becomes a star in the sky….

Elegance & grace

Interview Francesco Drusian, Drusian Az. Agr.

Tags

drusian, Francesco Drusian, Italy, Prosecco, sparkling wine, valdobbiadene, veneto

3G doyen of Drusian

Name: Francesco Drusian

Winery: Drusian Francesco Az.Agr.

Town/Country: Valdobbiadene-Treviso- Italy

1. Which spot in your vineyard is the most special and why? The most

Special place for me is the Cartizze. It is unique in the whole world and it gives the upmost expression of Valdobbiadene DOCG, called Cartizze. You have to see and taste it to believe it.

2. If you link the dots in your life, which experience was the most crucial relating to how you make your wine today?

To be born here gives me the possibility to know the territory and how to take advantages of it. My purpose is to continue the research and improve the quality of the wine. Never ever forgetting the total respect of the environment.

3. What kind of music do you enjoy listening to when making wine in your cellar?

I like listening rock and pop music.

4. Name a regional dish from your area, which matches best with one of your wines.

I think that Sopressa (a typical salami) is well matched with our “Colfondo” (sur lie).

Smooth partying

5. Name a restaurant from your recent travels around the world, which changed the way you thought about food and why?

I was surprised when I ate a fish dish with Prosecco DOCG in Vino di Vino in Prague. It combined very well. They were interesting and very appreciated together.

6. If your wine would die, who or what would it come back as (person/animal)?

Playful like be a dolphin.

Extra Dry, the most favorite style of Prosecco

Viticulturist Interview Mike Wing, Two Paddocks

Tags

Central Otago, Mike Wing, new zealand, Pinot Noir, Two Paddocks, Viticulturist

Most important person at Two Paddocks

Name: Mike Wing

Winery: Two Paddocks

Town/Country: Central Otago, New Zealand

1. Which spot in your vineyard is the most special and why?

The rocky outcrop at our Last Chance Vineyard. Here there is a 360 degree view of Central Otago and it is always drenched in sun.

2. If you link the dots in your life, which experience was the most crucial relating to how you make your wine today?

Growing up on a farm and learning the benefits of a diverse production system where health and quality come from the ground up.

3. What kind of music do you enjoy listening to when making wine in your cellar?

Anything as long as it is loud!!

4. Name a regional dish from your area, which matches best with one of your wines.

Fresh Bluff Oysters are a seasonal treat we enjoy here in the south of New Zealand and they are great with our Two Paddocks Riesling.

Old school car, in an old school vineyard

5. Name a restaurant from your recent travels around the world, which changed the way you thought about food and why?

Fresh is best for me so the best experience I have had is buying prawns straight from the boat in Mozambique.

6. If your wine would die, who or what would it come back as (person/animal)?

Definitely a house cow, the gentle provider that is in her own right powerful and wise.

Leafy kind of Pinot Noir, delicious

Interview James Rowan, Soho Wine Co.

Tags

james rowan, marlbourgh, new zealand, soho wine co, winemaker interview

Waiheke winemaker

Name: James Rowan

Winery: Soho Wine Co

Town/Country: Waiheke Island, New Zealand

1. Which spot in your vineyard is the most special and why?

There are a few and they’re where you get to see/feel the whole island, and our special little piece of it…oh, there’s down in the new plantings…new ideas…a new future.  Also, there’s a special space in the winery, atop a particular tank, where I can sit and just soak up what it is that we’re making and doing…and try to work out what’s the next step…we’ve a great team around us, they’re as much of the story…

2. If you link the dots in your life, which experience was the most crucial relating to how you make your wine today?

I visited a winemaker when I started studying. I expressed my want to be a winemaker.  His comment was that two clean buckets and a trained monkey makes wine.  What we need to know is how to grow grapes…so I studied viticulture…and now I grow wine.

3. What kind of music do you enjoy listening to when making wine in your cellar?

Neil Young; George Michael; Morrissey; Fleetwood Mac; David Bowie; Sharon Jones; Issac Hayes; Barry White; Nina Simone; Nick Cave; Ella Fitzgerald…

family time in the vineyard

4. Name a regional dish from your area, which matches best with one of your wines.

Barbequed anything…let’s make it scallops, a splash of lime juice…and a Waiheke Chardonnay….or, flashed venison and Syrah?! We live a simple and flavorsome life!

5. Name a restaurant from your recent travels around the world, which changed the way you thought about food and why?

I was in Lyon, in the old quarter, a few years back.  I was young and adamant that eating offal was offensive, but I opened my mind and my palate.  After that I have experienced culinary and personal delight…a closed mind helps no-one. Life is about texture…and that extends across food and wine as much.

Yarrum in Marlborough

6. If your wine would die, who or what would it come back as (person/animal)?

Wine doesn’t die, it does though change. When I’m out hiking and I’m chased/flirted with piwakawaka (our native Fantail) I feel that previous experiences are coming back to me…there’s a lifted life that flashes around me as I walk the path.

Interview Vito Piffer, Endrizzi

Tags

endrizzi, trentino, vito peffer, winemaker interview

Name: Vito Piffer

Winery: Cantine Endrizzi

Town/Country: Trento, Italy

1. Which spot in your vineyard is the most special and why?

I personally find the “Canevaccia” vineyard very exciting. Here the “bedrock”—geologically known as Breccia di Faedo or Breccia di Masetto—turns into fertile soil and the Central-European microclimate makes a special home for the Riesling Rhenano grape. The canyon carved by the Rio Faedo in its middle enhances its unique character and the surrounding woods create an absolutely idyllic seclusion.

150 year old Cantina

2. If you link the dots in your life, which experience was the most crucial relating to how you make your wine today?

I believe that no experience in viticulture and winemaking was to inconsequential as not to have enriched me professionally. The experience in Chianti Classico just after having finished my studies was of fundamental importance, and the same goes for the subsequent experiences in different Italian regions. Equally important, furthermore, are the participation as commissioner at international wine competitions and the exchanges with other oenologists.

3. What kind of music do you enjoy listening to when making wine in your cellar?

I don’t listen to music in the cellar, but when I have to concentrate on a certain idea, Led Zeppelin are a great help.

4. Name a regional dish from your area, which matches best with one of your wines.

A delicious dish I only eat at the house of a few friends is polenta with snails (polenta and limoci), it pairs ever so nicely with Masetto Nero or Teroldego Reserve.

cool and deep barrel room

5. Name a restaurant from your recent travels around the world, which changed the way you thought about food and why?

Let’s pass on this one.

6. If your wine would die, who or what would it come back as (person/animal)?

The only regret when drinking Gran Masetto is that I wish I could taste it 10 – 15 – 20 years older!