Beverages – Nature to Culture

29/05/201729/05/2017

Ended up in the Office

Because of some circumstances called torn ligament, I ended up in the office. A completely different world! When working in the production I had a healthy amount of exercise per day. We stirred bottles from A to B, modified and fixed broken machines, packed the shipping and maneuvered pallets through the production. Now that I work in the office nothing is as it was before – a completely different world. A completely different way of thinking. I am brainstorming, inventing, creating and conceptualizing, sitting in front of a monitor. Motionless.

But office is the place, where the great concepts are drafted, where the new marketing strategy is designed, where the customer gets out when he phones “THE DUKE“. The office is the thinking head of the company.

On the one hand side we have the production on the other hand side we have the office. Two working complexes which perfectly function on their own but not without each other. The production would neither get the orders nor the working materials without the office. Vice versa the office would not be able to sell and merchandise the product without the product itself, produced in the production.

For me it is super interesting to discover an enterprise like this with all its facets. One could indeed compare it to a brilliant: every area sparkles in a different colour, but when you see it as a whole complex it is perfect because the colours complement each other. You could again see the two different parts of the company, when talking about the language: There is the production with the clear and direct instructions, and in contrary there is the office and especially the marketing with its convoluted but eloquent manner of expression.

However I am really happy to have the chance to explore all this sparkling facets of THE DUKE Distillery!

17/04/201719/04/2017

Inspired by Gin – a true Ginspiration

After all this sparkling wine and champagne, I decided to literally step up with the alcohol level and started to work in a gin distillery.

Gin exposes a wide spectrum of new possibilities: While in Germany the winemakers are bound to strict wine laws, the distillers are able to be creative in their own free way concerning the gin they make.

This rather little, but in Germany well-known distillery called THE DUKE Gin is situated in Munich. Not only the lovable team there but also the juniper-scented atmosphere and the aromatic Munich Dry Gin are truly inspiring me every day.

Gin Tasting in front of distillery

I told a lot of people that I’m working in a Gin distillery now and the first reaction always was:“In a what?!” But when I explained it more precisely, the second reaction was: “Ohhh, a Gin distillery, of course!” And when I talked to adults, the third reaction wasn’t long in coming: “Oh really? In former times when I was young, we drank Gin Tonic as if it was water, but I didn’t knew that it is back in fashion again!”.

Yes, Gin is back en vogue! And Gin Tonic is the new In-Drink.

The Gin Tonic is lionized by a lot of rumors and myths, but what exactly makes a good Gin Tonic? Here a few helpful hints and tricks!

For a Gin Tonic you need:

5cl Gin
12cl Tonic Water
Ice
Garnish: citrus zest, rosemary or other herbs, cucumber slice
Glass: highball glass

First of all it is important to have the best mixing proportion between Gin and Tonic Water. The Tonic should support the Gin, but not drown it. Your highball glass should be filled with ice to the top. One might think, that the drink dilutes less, when you have just a drop of ice in your glass. But it is the exact opposite: The more ice cubes you have, the more the drink is able to cool down and the more time it takes our Gin Tonic to dilute. Lastly the garnish, it isn’t just there for the elegant look, but it also should round and support the drink.

So does an orange zest on our THE DUKE Gin Tonic. With its essential oils the orange zest supports the floral scent of the orange blossom, wich is one of the botanicals of our Munich Dry Gin.

Wether en vogue or not, the Gin Tonic rests a wonderful drink. But for those who finally get bored by Gin Tonic: Try the Gin pure on ice with an orange zest or try out some more extravagant recipes like the Gin Basil Smash or a mix between Earl Grey and Gin called Sir Charles!

What ever you are drinking, Cheers!

19/01/201704/04/2017

A Self-Experiment: Red Wine Tea

Winter. Everyone’s got a cold. So do I.

To get well again a good friend of mine recommended me a very strange-sounding recipe: Red Wine Tea. Drink it, she said and you’ll get better soon. So I tried it:

1/2 bottle of red wine
0,25 l water
2 tea bags of black tea
2 lemons
a huge amount of sugar

I heated up the red wine, made a strong black tea (Earl Grey), poured it together and added lemon juice and sugar until it was tasty.

I’m just drinking it right now, so I will report about the healing effect in some days! Here my advice: Drink it as hot as you can! The colder it gets the worse it tastes.

Report: It made me drunken and heated me up! Perfect to destroy bacteria, isn’t it?

17/01/201718/01/2017

From the bottle of my heart – Bottling

Have you ever wondered how the beverage gets into the bottle? I made some short videos to show you how bottling does work!

First of all the bottles get washed:

Then they get filled. The bottling machine is connected to a tank, from which the liquid is pumped to the machine.
Here they get filled under pressure so that the CO2 can’t escape from the sparkling wine.

And finally, because we have sparkling wine, the bottle gets corked (first station)and the cork gets fixed with an agraffe (second station).

Now we have a beautiful fresh bottled sparkling wine.

This is the bottling process of a sparkling wine which is not traditional bottle fermented. If you want to read more about traditional bottle fermentation, click on the following link:

http://www.naturetoculture.com/sparkling-wine-how-come/

24/11/201624/11/2016

My new sparkling chapter

Time passed and Germany got me back. (I’ll return, France! Brace yourself!)

Now I’m working in a sparkling wine cellar near my hometown. The “Sektkellerei Höfer” in Würzburg. I’ll stay there for four months and during this period I’ll tell you a lot about sparkling wine, show you some photos and even videos!!!

Enjoy!

25/10/201625/10/2016

Wine as old as me!

Have you ever tasted a wine, same age as you? Well, yesterday I did. We tasted a Pommard Poutures 1er Cru from 1997.

picsart_10-25-03-12-14

When we opened it, we were a bit afraid because the cork smell was intense, but the wine was marvellous!

Here a short impression:

Look: Light to middle red, not too dark. (see photo)

Smell: Intense but nice, red berries, cherry

Taste: Very soft! Dark, ripe cherry, other berries, little creamy and not too strong

picsart_10-24-10-21-56-1

Cheers!

17/10/201617/10/2016

Violence in the vineyard

Let me take you on a dream journey.

Imagine: You walk through the vineyards. The intense green of the leaves is slowly changing in a golden orange. Autumn is coming. Harvest is over. The mist covers the landscape softly like a blanket. Everything is calm.

But then, you see it: Horribly rotten, withered and dead. A grapevine, which is hopelessly afflicted by ESCA*!

You instantly take your scissors and start to cut it all off, violently. Until nothing rests but the root. At the end you also tear out the root. No mercy!

At the end you contemplate your work: Well done!

You continue your walk. Peaceful and calm.

*Esca- a collection of mushrooms, which besets the vines root. A lethal illness for a grapevine. All that rests is a brown dried and dead piece of wood.

03/10/201619/01/2017

Watch, Smell, Taste!

picsart_10-03-09-51-01

Today I gave our Pinot Noir some air… while tasting it 😀

Tasting is very important! You have to know what you are producing, and how your product is developing! Not only by watching or smelling, but also by tasting!

21/09/201621/09/2016

“Drowning” in Chardonnay

So, I am just finishing my third day in the Champagne.

But what exactly happened?

Well, let’s begin at the beginning: Two days ago I arrived at Avize, met all the people and sneaked around. This is such a beautiful landscape here!

picsart_09-21-09-32-15

Yesterday we already started to harvest Chardonnay! What? Chardonnay? – Don’t you say! This region (Côte des Blancs) literally floats in Chardonnay! There is no other variety growing here! That is the reason why the harvest just has a duration of 10-15 days.

picsart_09-21-09-30-18