Wine Discovery

Twelve ladies enjoyed celebrating chairlady Nancy's birthday on a Tuesday afternoon recently: we were invited to explore the cellar bar of the Hotel Hirschen in the Niederdorf district of Zürich. Philippa introduced our host, Herr Hanspeter Graf, who gave us a fascinating history of the medieval building. The talk was in German but group member Stephanie was on hand to give us an instant translation of all the nuances.

This building was a hospice in the Middle Ages, which belonged to the local Kloster and served as a guest house for poor and sick people to keep them off the streets. After the Reformation of 1530, the house was privately owned and used as a smithy. In the seventeenth century the cellar became a stables for passing tradesmen. In 1909, a large salon was built on the ground floor which was used as a cabaret theatre and was famous in 1915 as the place where the Dada art movement's manifesto was written before the group moved across the road to the Cabaret Voltaire.

In 1933, the German writer Thomas Mann came to Zürich and made his home here, while his daughter Erica Mann founded the Pfeffermühle ensemble in the building opposite. The group made political protests just before the war and they needed police protection. In 1935, the Mann family moved to the USA for nine years and the Pfeffermühle then became the Cabaret Cornichon. The theatre group moved back into the Hotel Hircshen and the cellar was then used as a theatre storeroom and workshop. The scenery painter was Alois Garigiet, the well-known author of children's books. At the end of the 50s and in the early 60s, the theatre was closed but re-emerged in the late 60s and 70s as a rock music venue where British bands such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Pink Floyd all performed. Herr Graf seemed most proud of this episode in the hotel's history!

The hotel was renovated eight years ago and Herr Graf was responsible for redesigning the cellar and making it into an atmospheric bar again where women can enjoy a peaceful drink. Under the auspices of Zürich council, weddings are performed here every afternoon at 1500. The cellar bar now goes by the name of Weinschenke and is open every evening except Sundays.

After this fascinating diversion, we arrived at the main purpose of our visit: tasting four Italian wines made by women. First open was a Punset Langhe Arneis, a white wine from the Piedmont region made by Marina Margarino, who took over her father's business in spite of local hostility. She had to prune the vines by darkness to avoid the disparaging comments of her male colleagues! We found this wine to have a full flavour and not too acidic, and it was my personal favourite of the afternoon. Secondly we tried a Sicilian La Segreta, a blend of four grapes: grecanico, chardonnay, viognier and fiano, which goes well with parma ham and melon. It was made by Francesca Planeta, who also produced our third wine, a red Manela Burdese 2005, from a classic combination of cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc grapes. This was the most popular wine of the day with most of the ladies. Finally we tried a Marzieno Ravenna Rosso 2004 from the Emilia Romagne region, a blend of sangiovese, cabernet sauvignon, syrah and merlot grapes with a 15% alcohol content and a dark, chocolatey taste: this one was produced by Christiana Geminiani.

Herr Graf had saved some of his premium wines for us to taste on this special women's event and we all enjoyed the ambience as well as the history lesson. You can read more at this link: www.hirschen-zuerich.ch


Upcoming events with the wine group:
the exact dates will be on the online calendar at www.ziwa.com.

In March, make up a group and explore the spring wine fair, Expovina Primavera, from 18 to 25 March at Halle 9 at the Messezentrum. See more at www.expovina-primavera.ch.
In April, a South African wine tasting at Mama Africa at the Technopark Zürich. See www.mamaafrica.ch.
In May, we visit the beer factory in Rapperswil with an English cheese tasting. Partners welcome! Look at www.bierfactory.ch for more info.

Nancy and Philippa are standing down as chairladies after two splendid years of wonderful wine discovering events. If you would like to take over, give them a call. We will all appreciate it!

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