About coffee, and wine
About coffee and wine
The world of coffee and the world of wine - like everything else in this world, are tangled and connected, sometimes in the most incredible way. In the "coffee" world, the opinion is often expressed that quality coffee, which we call "specialty", follows the path of quality wine. On the surface, that is, on the shelves of wine shops - this “way of wine” looks like a huge difference in quality and even more incredibly huge - in price. When a bottle of “seemingly good” wine costs 5 euros. Another bottle, “just good” - 50. And the third, “very good” - 500. How they make good coffee and what efforts it costs - I am constantly writing here. And how does the “wine world” look like inside, that is exactly where wine is made? There, too, everything is very different.
Once I met an Austrian winemaker, who makes biodynamic wines in the price range of 25-75 Euros per bottle.
The Winemaker is Peter Vader-Malberg. At first he had education as the artist, then studied economics a bit, worked as director of an advertising agency in Vienna. But something moved him from this more or less creative way - to a completely creative one. And in 1991, he entered college, to study Viticulture, in Napa Valley, California (USA). Then there was work and study at several wineries in Switzerland, the USA, Italy, and Germany. For fourteen years Peter worked as chief winemaker at the large private Estate Graf Hardegg, in the Austrian region of Weinwiertel. Peter transferred this estate, with an area of 40 hectares of vineyards on the biodynamic style of winemaking. In European wine-off-season Peter for several times visited to New Zealand, where he trained and worked at the local wineries. And since 2008, he became an independent winemaker and marketing consultant, founded his own winery in the town of Spitz an der Donau (Peak Nad Danube), in the Wachau region, the most famous wine region of Austria.
It should be emphasized, the concept of “working at the vineyard in the Wachau” is not exactly what we usually see at photos in glance magazines. There are usually captured frantic, plump, rosy-cheeks winemakers, standing with a glasses of wine, with a tractor working far away, at the background of endless rows of grapes... The distinctive feature of the Wachau vineyards is that they are located on terraces in the Danube valley, with steep stony slopes. In the Wachau grapes can be cultivated and harvested only by hand. No technique on such slopes can work and therefore the cultivation of grapes here requires 5-10 times more labor. Therefore, in our "lazy" time, many ancient terraces are on the verge of being abandoned. And such a prospect may in the future change the landscape of the Wachau beyond recognition. Therefore, Peter set as his goal to protect as many of these terraces with old vineyards as possible from oblivion. Despite the fact that the cultivation of these vineyards is heavy and only manual - Peter is convinced that the quality of the wines of them is so unique, so full of unique and exciting features that this work will pay off many times over.
Now Peter has been cultivating six such sites: Branstatt, Bruck, Hochrein, Weitenberg, Bushenberg, Kreutles. Most of the vines in these areas from 30 to 55 years. "Drincability” of wines and their ability to extract - the key parameters for the choice of Peter sites for work. He creates subtle, extremely elegant wines, with filigree minerality and vivacity, capable of developing and improving wine for many years. Peter makes white wines Gruner-Veltliner, the classic wine of the Wachau region, is very different, as the grapes are grown in different terroirs. Also produces Riesling. From some sites it turns out with a bright fruit character, fine minerality and spicy notes. From others - powerful and mineral, capable of long-term aging and development.
See here: www.veyder.malberg.at
Or here: https://www.facebook.com/peter.veydermalberg?fref=ts
As you can understand from the previous text - Peter impressed me with his wines. And after I tasted his wine at home, I can say that I conquered. Thanks to him, I expanded the “wine horizon” for myself by falling in love with the fine white wines of the Wachau. And what about coffee, you`ll ask? When Peter and I met at the presentation of his wines - I was wearing a T-shirt with the emblem of the World Cuptasting Championship. Peter questioned me, I told a little about the world of speciality coffee, coffee roasting, about the world championships among barista and cuptesters, about the search for "God in the cup." In general, I opened his eyes to this whole “coffee-waves-movement”, which seems so cool to us, “coffee” people. But about which not all (to say francly) have been heard in “other worlds”. Then Peter “killed me outright” - he said that he also likes coffee. And that he recently traveled to Italy and brought back 40 kg of “the most excellent Robusta”. Of course, I was stunned - how can a person who makes and drinks the finest white wines at 75 Euros per bottle - drink this terrible funky Robusta, the fair price of which is 5 Euro/kg (roasted and packed)?! And even more, for what for a person needs immediately 40 kg of this “fine” Robusta? To which he replied that he had bought so much at once, “so as not to run to the store twice,” that he would drink this Robusta for another year. I was then, of course, slightly surprised, tried to explain to him the difference between good Arabica and Robusta, between freshly roasted coffee and year-old “sea biscuit”. I also explained him, why in his homely coffee machine (bought for about 30 Euros in the supermarket) it is impossible to make such espresso, as it is prepared in Italian coffee shops. Well, such “enlightenment” conversations we all often hold with admirers of “excellent Italian Robusta”. But rarely these conversations reach people’s conscious.
More than a year has passed since our conversation probably. One evening in a decent bustle, I collected a backpack for a trip to the coffee places of Ethiopia. The plane is tomorrow morning. And here someone knocked on my Facebook. It turned out that Peter sent a message. He boasted, he has bought about 4000 Euro coffee machine and a professional coffee grinder. And has found somewhere nearby a coffee roastery. And he invites me on occasion to come in, to cup a really delicious espresso. :)
So, try to persuade me after this, that coffee and wine are not related. And that in the world something happens by chance. :)
