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vinigma on tour: I’m off to make wine in Argentina

On Easter Monday I’m heading off to follow an old dream of mine: I will work for a winery in Mendoza, Argentina, for a month and create my own brand of Malbec. I will be staying and working at the Bodega Familia Zuccardi, a very creative and innovative family winery that researches and experiments with […]

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3-5 December: Ramp sale

Degustation

In December I open my cellar: On two evenings and one Saturday I offer my wines with 10% discount, free delivery. You also get a glass of wine and a plate of soup.

When? Thursday, 3.12.2015, 4-8 p.m.
Friday, 4.12.2015, 4-8 p.m.
Saturday, 5.12.2015, 2-6 p.m.

Where. In the wine cellar at Solothurnerstrasse 15, 4053 Basel

I am looking forward to three convivial days!

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Footwork in the cellar

Once the grapes are in the tank, the manual work – or rather, the footwork – begins. Twice a day I step into the fermenting mash and carefully tread the grapes. What floats on top is pushed down. The liquid from the bottom comes back to the top. With my feet I feel where the mash is not yet well mixed and which grapes are not yet properly pressed out. The movements are slow and purposeful, because kicking too wildly releases the bitter substances from the berries.

After just under three weeks, the fermentation is finished, I press out the rest of the liquid and separate the liquid from the marc. Like every year, I am excited!

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Happy Harvest 2015

Ernteglueck

It was a beautiful Saturday in late September 2015, after a very long, sunny and hot summer. And it is a beautiful harvest: the vines were strong, the grapes ripe and abundant. And thanks to the summer heat, the Suzuki fruitfly lost its ability to reproduce. We were a cheerful lot doing the harvesting, shipping and catering, so it turned out to be a real harvest feast. As usual, I am happy to say.

The grapes were high on the Öchsle scale this year, so I have to watch the drying very carefully in order to get just the right concentration. It is all there in the fruit already, there is not much that I can add. I really look forward to working in the cellar, the foottrodding and pressing, the smelling, tasting and listening. It takes all five senses to know when to interfere and when to just let nature run its course. It’s a fine balance between controlling and letting go – just like in life.

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PRIZEWORTHY! The 2012 jeninser is awarded a silver medal by “decanter”

jeninser 2013

The 2012 jennies not only has a rich palate, but also “a lovely warm finish”, says “Decanter” wine magazine’s international panel of experts. That is worth a silver medal, the “Decanter World Wine Awards Silver Accolade”. A huge honor!

Read the panel’s tasting notes.

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Vinigma featured in the Style-Magazin of Schweizer Illustrierten, March 2015

Even Chandra Kurt takes an interest in my urban winery. And as we well know, she’s an authority in the Swiss world of wine. Read more here.

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jeninser in “Welt am Sonntag”, October 19, 2014

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The “Suzuki Harvest”

First, the rain hung much too low in the clouds throughout the summer. Next, East Asian fruit pests launched an air strike, and finally, a drone whizzed by just over our heads!

I know, some of you had holes in your stomach, others were unprepared for flying saucers, while yet others repeatedly went on a futile search for crates.

Against all odds and defying some faults in planning, we ended up harvesting exactly 840 crates or 2,149 kilos of grapes!

I was astonished to find that we had harvested about 500 kilos less than in the past year, while using almost twice the number of crates. The conclusion I draw from this: lots of stems and little fruit.

Now it’s up to my skill, experience and luck to make the best of it. It won’t be easy, but if you’re patient and come back for the harvest in 2016, you’ll get a taste.

Viva! Thanks, and all the best

Valentin

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In the vines

A lot of manual work and care goes into the vines. The shoots are selected by hand, broken out and looped into the support wires. Plant protection and summer pruning require a lot of precision and endurance. The vine and viticulture are comparable to top-class sport: every move is perfect, every intervention is precisely planned and budgeted, every shoot optimised. The vine, the soil and I deliver top performance. At the end, the grapes are carefully harvested by hand. Grape after grape is placed in the basket and dried.

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