Remembering Werner Näkel - Trink Magazine
Werner Näkel, the Ahr winemaking legend at Weingut Meyer-Näkel who redefined German Pinot Noir, has passed. Written by journalist Michael Schmidt.| Trink Magazine
In Alsace, Grand Cru usually means one thing: Riesling. But on Zotzenberg — a low, east-facing slope between Barr and Mittelbergheim — the often overlooked Sylvaner holds an unusual place of privilege. Zotzenberg remains the only Grand Cru vineyard in Alsace for which Sylvaner is officially recognized on the label. It’s a rare exception that shows how a site can reshape a grape’s reputation and, perhaps, its future. Six Centuries on a Quiet Hill in Alsace Zotzenberg was first docume...| Trink Magazine
The quiet whirr of my high-speed German train is a soothing reminder of Europe’s classy public transit I so miss in America. I’m headed south from Frankfurt towards a gentle landscape of vineyards, orchards and villages near the Rhine River and my Jewish father’s hometown. I’m much less comfortable with the muted conversations surrounding me. Like many children of Holocaust survivors, I grew up instinctively wary of the German language and all things German. I’m on a symbolic jou...| Trink Magazine
Werner Näkel, the Ahr winemaking legend at Weingut Meyer-Näkel who redefined German Pinot Noir, has passed. Written by journalist Michael Schmidt.| Trink Magazine
In a country that consumes 99 percent of its own wine, finding a restaurant that has an extensive Swiss selection is easy, but finding a restaurant that exclusively features all the wineries and wines of a single appellation is rare. Alter Torkel in Jenins, a village in Graubünden, in eastern Switzerland, somehow miraculously fits the bill. It may not be the first restaurant to put wine before food, but I have yet to come across one that takes this philosophy to such extremes. As a balmy f...| Trink Magazine
Words are like viruses. They appear in culture and may lie dormant then suddenly they are everywhere, swirling about, adapting to their hosts, mutating to survive. In the wine world, this process can happen fast. "Purity," it turns out, is anything but pure.| Trink Magazine
Hans Ruck, 74, is fully at home in front of a stove. The German vintner, of Weingut Ruck in Iphofen, has been a serious chef for five decades, with a healthy| Trink Magazine
In the heart of Alto Adige-Südtirol, infinite green rows of vines crown the chestnut-brown roofs of Neustift Abbey. In this fairytale-like northern Italian valley, German and Italian coexist in mutual synchrony, a vivid reminder of a not-so-distant past when this was part of the Austrian Empire. The fortified ensemble houses a monastery, boarding school, museum, and winery within its Romanesque, Baroque, and Rococo walls. Wine has been made using grapes of the region here for the last nine c...| Trink Magazine
Get in on Austria's off-trail wines with these four distinctive expressions of personality and place.| Trink Magazine
The most charming Marille-to-mouth vehicle is the humble Marillenfleck or Marillenkuchen, a simple sheet cake with a perfect grid of fruit. The soft batter| Trink Magazine
Meet the 'New Kitz' of German natural wine in Kitzingen. A story of community, collaboration, and how friends in Franken are changing the wine scene for the better.| Trink Magazine
Much has been made of an increase in German wine exports last year. Dr. Karl Storchmann reports that the data are open to interpretation.| Trink Magazine
Burgenland's natural growers champion skin-contact whites as the ultimate expression of their terroir. Are the laws evolving to match their vision?| Trink Magazine
