This tricky phrase in Polish - Szukając szmaragdów (pronounced shoo-kay-ons sh-marag-dov) - could be a way of checking your ability to pronounce a tongue-twister. Or it could be a task for someone going on a planned or unexpected wine tour of Wachau, one of the most interesting wine regions in Austria. But it wouldn’t be an easy task. Not anymore at least, due to climate change.
For some, “global warming” has become a very popular slogan recently, while others use it as an ideological picket; and some people even base their conspiracy theories on it – especially fans of Alex Jones* who see...
Travels
2020-09-04
Written by:
Anna Kruszczyńska
I will always associate the name Płochoccy with a very good Zweigelt – it was the first Polish red wine which really surprised when I tried it a few years ago. That was a year of wine discoveries: single-variety Zweigelt wines, Polish wines in general and the first Polish red wine to suit my palate.
When I started to plan the list of vineyards I’d like to visit on our whistle-stop weekend wine tour in the Sandomierz region, I immediately placed the Płochoccy Vineyard at the end of Saturday as a kind of complement to the first day of tasting. As the second commercial vineyard...
2020-07-06
Written by:
Anna Kruszczyńska, zdjęcia własne i autorstwa Anny Pławińskiej
Winnica Moderna. Why the name Moderna? Apparently, the name of the winery came from a passion for modernism – the architectural style - shared by Nestor Kościański and two women, Nestor’s wife and his associate, who both happen to have the same first name: Katarzyna (or Kasia for short). What’s more, all the labels also express this interest in modernism and the buildings we can see on the wine labels were inspired by interesting examples of this architectural style that Nestor and both Kasias observed during their walks through the city of Wrocław.
We met Nestor in his vineyard on a hot...
2020-05-15
Written by:
Anna Kruszczyńska
First impression when you reach Babylonstoren – is this a paradise on earth? Babylonstoren is one of the oldest Dutch Farms located between Franschhoek and Stellenbosch in the Cape Winelands, South Africa. This place is so much more than a wine estate or a farm. It's a concept, a philosophy of healthy life style, a place to spend few hours or even days, depend if you just come there for a lunch, shopping, wine tasting or to stay at their luxury hotel. They also offer a SPA treatment, where you can relax taking in the whole beauty of this place.
During weekends and holiday season it’s...
2019-07-18
Written by:
Małgorzata Machajska
A walk in the vineyards of Aÿ last weekend. The Larmat’s map of the vineyards of la Vallée de la Marne in my hand, the green ‘sea’ of vines stretching to the horizon, the sun peeking out from behind the clouds...
I was walking past famous parcels. Clos Saint-Jacques and Chaudes Terres, with their vines planted in the 19th c. that survived unscathed the phylloxera crisis and that produce grapes for Bollinger’s ‘Vielles Vignes Francaises’. Somewhere there is also La Côte aux Enfants producing Bollinger’s amazing red wine. Then there is La Côte Glacière and just above it Meurtet, both...
2019-01-20
Written by:
Anna Kruszczyńska
Tokara – one of the most beautiful wine estates I visited while travelling through wine regions and subregions in South Africa. It’s a complex and very tourist-friendly wine estate divided in two independent parts, located in Stellenbosch Mountains. The first building you see when getting there is where the winery itself is located. The building is modern, has two floors: on the ground floor, which is dedicated to visitors, you find a tasting venue with a wine store and a restaurant. When entering the building, you can see steel vats and part of the winery which is on the...
