...well, after our first almond tree began to blossom on the 20th of January,
the winter we were waiting for finally arrived, and with it the snow.
It’s rather nasty outside today, so we are busying ourselves with work in the cellar and the office.
www.kollwentz.at
There is no other place in Germany that has more Michelin-starred chefs per square metre than the island of Sylt:
Sabastian Zier, Jörg Müller, Holger Bodendorf, Johannes King, Alexandro Pape and Jens Rittmeyer.
From Saturday-Tuesday in the Hotel Budersand they, along with 'stars' from elsewhere in Europe—
Klaus Erfort, Jan Jacob Boerma, Rolf Fliegauf, José Cordeiro, Tanja Grandits, Thomas Macyszyn, Adam Simmonds, André Tienelt and Gerald Zogbaum—
held High Kitchen and dazzled the diners with amazing displays of culinary prowess.
Here's a snapshot of Monday evening’s menu, by Jacob Jan Boerma from 2-star De Leest in Vaasan, the Netherlands.
—But what’s a good meal without the right wines to go along with it ?
We’re certainly happy to accept an invitation like this one!
After completing their fermentations, and approximately three weeks maceration on the skins, our red wines have been drawn off into the cellar. The casks have been arranged, and filled with the freely running wine from the red wine fermentation tanks. They are then sealed with an airlock, which allows for the progress of the secondary fermentation (biological reduction of acidity—or more precisely, malolactic fermentation) to be monitored as closely as possible, as well as protecting the wine from vinegar flies. This malolactic fermentation will result in a portion of the wine’s acids—the malic acid—being converted to lactic acid during a fermentation (along with carbon dioxide, which escapes into the atmosphere). The red wine is rendered smoother by means of this process, in addition to becoming microbiologically quite stabile. The drying grape-mash is then cleared out of the fermenters, put into the press and pressed out. This press-wine is kept separate, and after a year’s time will be evaluated for quality.
Weingut Kollwentz
Burgenland
www.kollwentz.at
We harvested the last of our vines yesterday under the best possible weather conditions. And thus the 2013 vintage will go down in the annals of our estate as a worthy representative of the tradition, whereby vintages ending with the number 3 seem to prove particularly noteworthy. Even if some days we were obliged to save our grapes from threatening rainfall, their spiciness and concentration of sugar, acidity, and aromatic material all pack a lot of muscle. The white wines as well as our reds are showing great class and style. The significant amount of rainfall in the springtime, the searing heat of the summer, and the changing moods of autumn kept us constantly on our toes. What we did and how we worked in the vineyards was extremely important—it's a vintage where the grower's dedication meant a great deal. And equally important, we harvested the grapes with a well-trained and efficient team at just the right moment—which ultimately proved the key to success.
Weingut Kollwentz
Burgenland
www.kollwentz.at
The weather played ball for a change—at least for a couple days—and we are picking as much as we can.
We've cut down to two workers in the cellar; everybody else is out in the vineyards.
Yesterday we finished harvesting our vineyard 'Point,' and today we're out in the ‘Setz’ once more.
We're very happy with the luscious and fully ripe Blaufränkisch berries—this is our reward for perfect canopy management.
Weingut Kollwentz
Burgenland
www.kollwentz.at
