Christoph Kuster (62) from Zurich, marketing consultant, passionate ice hockey fan (passive), golfer (active) and wine connoisseur (regular).
Rhoneblut: What comes to mind spontaneously when you hear “Swiss wine”?
Christoph Kuster: A great variety. Among them, however, many products that are not so to my liking.
RB: And with the term “Valais wines”?
CK: Winter vacations, skiing, sledding, building snow huts, warm foehn, raclette parlor.
RB: And to “Albert Mathier & Söhne AG”?
CK: Honestly? For me, at the top of the list of wine producers. For a winemaker, he has an exceptionally wide range.
RB: Please tell us about your wine highlight of the last twelve months, a special moment of pleasure with a Mathier wine.
CK: Sorry, but for the life of me I can’t manage to pinpoint just one highlight. There are too many of them. Even if it sounds a bit cliché, fondue and raclette always put me in a good mood, and usually accompanied by a white wine from Mathier.
RB: Can you remember when, how and where you got a taste for wine?
CK: I almost don’t dare tell you that, in this day and age. My parents always wanted me to taste wine. This with the thought that if I ever go out on my own, I won’t be tricked and made drunk by someone, unaware of what I’m being offered.
RB: And what if it’s not wine?
CK: Ramazzotti rosé with tonic water on ice. Very refreshing.
RB: What is your personal top 5 list of wines? You do not have to limit yourself to wines from our house …
CK: Will six go as well? So for the whites, my three favorites are the Domaine de Ravoire from Mathier, the Bianco Rovere from Ticino and the Schwarz Weiss from Austria. In the reds Mathiers Vinum Lignum wines, the Black Red from Austria and the Italian Mille e una Notte.
RB: If you had to choose: white, red or rosé?
CK: In summer rather white and rosé, in winter mainly red. Except with cheese, there’s always white.
RB: Heavy or light?
CK: Depending on the year and the meal. In the summer I generally choose lighter, but with meat it may be a heavier.
RB: Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, USA or Australia?
CK: Switzerland and Italy. And – the country is missing in your question – Austria.
RB: And last but not least: Why do you buy wine from the Albert Mathier & Sons wine family?
CK: I’m from Basel, but I’ve lived and worked in Zurich for years. I always buy raclette and fondue at Amstad Chäslädeli in Zurich’s Seefeld district. This carries, among other things, wines from Albert Mathier & Sons, the owner had once recommended them to me with cheese. And it was an excellent recommendation! I have been a Mathier regular buyer ever since.
Our wine recommendation.
