Achim von Oetinger is not a Berliner, at least not normally. After looking very carefully at this photograph of the winegrower from Erbach, Rheingau I took the other evening at Berlin wine merchant Planet Wine I’m not sure how to describe him, except to say that obviously, he isn’t smiling. Not being able to smile would certainly be some kind of problem, and might well indicate some deeper psychological issues, but blindly insisting on smiling come what may would surely be no less strange and inappropriate. Likewise, when it comes to wine what makes the taste fascinating isn’t the bright, ripe fruit flavors, rather the less obviously attractive characteristics that set up a tension with the immediately appealing elements. At least, this seems to me to be a good description of what his new wines are like. My gut feeling is that we’ll be hearing a lot more about Achim von Oetinger and his Rheingau Rieslings that are both attractive and fascinating.
Michael Hoffmann, pictured above at the Markthalle Neun in Berlin-Kreuzberg where he runs the Kantine (or cantine), is one of Berlin’s most talented chefs, but actually he’s far more than that. Even when he was running the now closed restaurant ‘Margaux’ his reputation was primarily made though the unconventional path of a spectacular vegetarian menu. During the latter years of that restaurant’s life a large part of the produce which went into that menu was grown in his own garden just outside the city. He continues to cultivate it, last year growing 15 different varieties of Kraut, cabbage, and two tons of tomatoes. I think those two figures give an idea both of how serious this is, and the importance Hoffmann attaches to growing varieties outside the box. No less important for him is the Soluna Bakery, also in Kreuzberg, that he took over after the death of it’s founder Peter Klann, about which there will be a separate story shortly. The ‘Rundling’ bread from Soluna is nourishment for my imagination.
Last, but not least of today’s unsmiling faces is that of Portuguese wine journalist Rui Falcao who yesterday held a Madeira masterclass in the Ellington Hotel. I never learnt so much about a category of wine as I did about Madeira during the hour he spoke before the first wine was served. Since this will almost certainly be the subject of my column in the FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG on the first Sunday in May I will save what he said. However, the way he said it proved that passion and clear thinking certainly don’t need to get in each other’s way. Likewise, it was all undoubtedly great promotion for Madeira in a city that doesn’t begin to understand or appreciate these wines, but to do that he didn’t need to smile all the time.
