Focused on what's Important

The Mancha is the region that is home to the slightly crazy Don Quixote, who, in the name of his ideals, fought against windmills and wineskins. The story of the Tinedo vineyard shows how the adventures of the passionate knight from the classic Spanish novel are still of significance today. In order to understand it, we first have to explain a bit more: From 1865 to the early 20th century, the vine pest, which had been introduced from North America, destroyed a large part of the European wine-making regions. Due to its climatic conditions, the Mancha was spared an invasion of the ravenous pests. As a result, the demand for wine from the region of Castile suddenly exploded. The small bodegas rapidly disappeared and were replaced by large, industrialized farms. When the vine pest situation began to improve, the price of wine in the Mancha plummeted.

Anyone who still wanted to make a profit had to supply lots of wine at the cheapest price possible. «My grandparents and my father wanted to keep their small bodega at any price», explains Manuel Alvarez-Arenas, who manages the family vineyard Bodega y Viñedo Tinedo together with his sister. «That was actually the dumbest thing you could have done at the time», says Manuel laughing, and adds: «But it is thanks to this stubbornness that today we have what is probably the most exceptional farm in the Mancha.» This is why the three siblings launched the Max wines to commemorate the 170th anniversary of the farm's existence, An homage to their father and his passion for continuing to manage the vineyard despite all the resistance he faced, without every knowing whether his livelihood would have a future. He was completely committed to his ideals, a true hero of the Mancha – one could undoubtedly write a novel about him.

Nadine Saxer and Stefan Gysel are not only a familiar couple in their private lives – the oenologists also complement each other perfectly in their careers. Both run their own winery, Nadine in the canton of Zurich and Stefan in the canton of Schaffhausen. They live with their three daughters on Nadine's winery in Neftenbach. When asked if it is not sometimes difficult in their situation to separate the professional from the private, Nadine says with a laugh, «When you have such a nice job, you don't have to separate it at all.» Is it because of this positive attitude that her wines are so harmonious and powerful? Nadine attributes her success primarily to the constant and intensive work in the vines and in the wine cellar: «We always aim to produce the highest quality and to always improve even more.» This does not go unnoticed: at the Grand Prix du Vin Suisse, Stefan Gysel and Aagne have already received 10 gold and 19 silver medals. Nadine Saxer even trumps her husband with her 11 gold and 23 silver medals, but in 2009 Stefan was the only German-Swiss to be named «Winemaker of the Year» to date... Is there perhaps sometimes competition between two such successful winemakers? How is it, for example, when it comes to choosing a wine for the wedding day? «On the wedding day, one bottle is not enough... So we can take a bottle from one winery for the aperitif and one from the other winery for the meal», Stefan says with a smile, «and of course it can sometimes be a wine from a fellow winemaker, then we can avoid this dispute.» This attitude simply whets our appetite for more Swiss wine – we have a lot of aces in our hand here.

His wines have made an impact like Nirvana's hits once did. But you'll look in vain for airs and graces with Hannes Reeh. The Austrian may live a carefree lifestyle, but he is far too determined to want to lead the dissolute life of a rock star. In 2007, he took over the winery from his parents and set about revamping it with youthful impartiality. The young man did not like all the «bells and whistles» surrounding wine; he wanted to make authentic, honest wines and dispense with any cosmetics and artificial enhancement. His wines should express pure emotions, just like the music of Nirvana in the album «Unplugged in New York». So a name was quickly found that sums up Hannes Reeh's work: he vinifies the best grapes of the vintage «unplugged» – without pure culture yeasts, enzymes, fining agents and filtration. Today, these wines are Hannes Reeh's trademark, and he has even won the Austrian Zweigelt Grand Prix with them. Like no other, the young winemaker has managed to combine nonchalance and ambition. His Zweigelt is not an unapproachable gentleman, but «like a sociable friend whom you like to have in your circle», says Hannes Reeh. If this wine were a song, you would simply have to put it on repeat.