Everything is in motion, changing, flowing. Thus, the 19 grape harvest – yes, even here in the Upper Valais, time does not stand still – has been a thing of the past for quite some time. It has been almost five months since we were able to harvest the beautiful, ripe grapes. Their transformation into wonderful wines has partly already taken place, partly still in full swing, which means: they still need a little waiting and maturing time.
Every day we are currently dealing with the 19 wines. The first have already found their way into the bottle and from there into the glasses of impatient wine lovers who, by all accounts, have experienced wonderful moments of pleasure. From the looks of it, the trend at the moment seems to be white wine. Aphrodine® and Pirouette® are above average in the favor of wine connoisseurs (which, by the way, I can understand very well, but please do not tell anyone, otherwise we will soon run into delivery problems with these two specialties …).
With the Reds, there are safe values that there is nothing to shake. Firm in character, unshakable and self-assured, they stand in the wine landscape. They calmly accept the medals and awards of the tasting competitions, but for their self-image they have not needed them for a long time. I am thinking here, for example, of our Rhoneblut®, the house and family wine of Albert Mathier & Sons. One that makes us proud time and time again. And yes, even that, our own palates delighted.
The 19s Syrah will be exciting. Again produced with expert advice and assistance from our Australian friends and from the finest Valais grapes. It need not fear comparison with the wines from the land of its creators. And so our Syrah really brings a bit of Down-Under to Salgesch and from there into your good parlors.
Committed to our natural wine tradition, we are tireless in developing our amphora wines. The orange had barely found its way onto the price list before it was gone. Or to put it another way: The 18er celebrated a brief guest appearance in our cellar. Our customers are all the more enthusiastic for it. Also for this reason we are pleased that the 19 is bottled these days.
Speaking of which, 15 Kvevris arrived in Salgesch just before Christmas. They survived the journey from Georgia to us in one piece. The joy was great and motivates us to continue on this path as pioneers of orange and natural wines. Either way, 2020 is and will remain exciting. This much is already betrayed at this point: A special wine awaits its completion in the barrel. “Farinet” is said to be his name. We’ll keep you posted on this particular story.
