Colourfully feathered, almost like a parrot, barely 30 centimetres tall, slender, turquoise breast, rusty brown back, long, curved beak, trilling "pruepp, pruepp, pruepp" and hovering immensely elegantly through the air, that is the bee-eater. As a former beekeeper, I have a split relationship with the bird, which shimmers in many colours - it is said to cause great damage to bee colonies - but to me, as a nature lover, it is welcome.
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| Probably the most colourful bird on a wine label: the bee-eater |
Apart from in books, on websites and in photo galleries, I have never encountered him. But now it is suddenly on my table - although it is only decorating the label of a red wine bottle that my neighbour Walter surprises me with. He has succeeded in surprising me - the colourful bird turns out to be an excellent wine. An Austrian, vintage 2006, from the Pitnauer Winery, Göttlesbrunn in Lower Austria, a Zweigelt - for me also as a wine a "colourful bird" with an exotic touch. But I'm not allowed to say that if I want to be halfway credible as a wine lover; after all, Zweigelt is one of the most popular wines in Austria, and the "Bienenfresser" is one of the best. For me, however, it is not completely unknown, but rather a very rare guest in my wine glass. Thanks to the "Bienenfresser" (and, of course, my neighbour), I have now got to know something (almost) new. "Carnuntum" said more to me than Göttlesbrunn, after all, we Swiss also have our "Augusta raurica" with an imposing amphitheatre of which we are proud. Only the "Heidentor" is missing here and of course the wine that is grown in the vineyards of Göttlisbrunn: Grüner Veltliner for example, St. Laurent or Zweigelt.
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| Bienenfresser% Harvest 2006% Göttlesbrunner Zweigelt% Bärnreiser% Winery Family Pitnauer |
Suddenly (is it so "suddenly" and not long overdue?) I realise that the world of wine can be realised not only in Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir or Riesling, but also in Zweigelt, for example. This "bee-eater" has done it for me: these slightly sweet dark berries on the palate, the cassis aromas in the finish, the restrained vanilla, which does not remind of wood at all, even some coconut, dried fruit I think I can fathom taste-wise. The palette of inviting wine pleasures expands in one fell swoop. Rarely enough do I turn east, for example to Lower Austria, to an area that I know from history but not as a wine region, "where culture, sun and wine meet", as the tourist advertising puts it. So I owe this unexpected encounter with a wine that is probably little known outside Austria to a colourful bird on an otherwise plain wine label. Wine label? Isn't it much more important, even decisive, for new discoveries than many well-intentioned descriptions?
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| Presentation of bottle formats and labels at Château Mouton Rothschild |
Right, there is a famous role model in Bordeaux: Mouton Rothschild. Since 1945, the label of this Premier Cru has been designed every year by a different artist, including such famous names as Picasso, Miro, Mathieu, Haring, Warhol, Baselitz, Poliakoff.... This makes the wine, which already belongs to the Bordeaux top, even more precious, namely also as a sought-after collector's item. There is probably no other winery in the world that sells itself so skilfully with total merchandising that you can find everything at Rothschilds, from corkscrews to ties to art, and there is even wine. But back to Austria. I remember a visit to a stand at ProWein. It was a year ago when I noticed artists' pictures on a series of wines. I stopped, took a closer look at the labels: Marco Polo, Cardinal, Cavallo, Contessa and Reserve. An advertising gimmick? In any case, I didn't go past Erich Giefing's stand. We quickly got involved in a conversation about art, labels, wine. First it was about the artist, the Austrian Gerhard Almbauer from Graz, who designed the labels. And it is - as with the bee-eater - first of all the extraordinary that reached me: colourful, memorable, exotic, striking. Not that I particularly like Almbauer's art: I probably wouldn't have stopped at a painting gallery.
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| Series of artist labels at the Erich Giefing winery in Rust on Lake Neusiedl% Austria |
But as a wine label, art takes on another dimension. Behind the pictures, in the bottle, there waits what the art decoration presents: Wine. For me it is - in this case - the next surprise: five very good wines. A cuvée of Cabernet Sauvignon, Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt particularly appealed to me. Was it Marco Polo, Cardinal or even Cavallo? I can't remember. In any case, our conversation quickly moves from art to wine, from the label to the pleasure of wine. For me, the France-oriented one, the wine (not only the label) is a real surprise. A little unusual at first, like Almbauer's pictures, but not what I have long been familiar with. Something new, an (almost) new experience, a lasting experience: spicy, powerful, very fruity - but also mineral. These are just the usual terms one uses to try to describe what is initially indescribable as a perception and only gradually defines itself. I think this was the first - consciously perceived - encounter with the actually still young Zweigelt grape variety.
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| With Erich Giefing at the ProWein 2008 |
Soon, however, I forgot about the "Cavallo" again, just as I banished the zweigelt-groof from my palate. For a good year, until ... until the "powerful, bell-like call" of the "bee-eater" (heard on http://de.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570280/Bienenfresser.html) reminded me that it doesn't always have to be what you know. Even the exotic - even if it's just an artist's fantasy or a colourful bird - can become familiar. You just have to get involved with it. For me, therefore, Zweigelt will henceforth remain inseparable from a colourful, exotic perception - not because of its taste.
Cordially
Yours sincerely
Peter (Züllig)