Our cuvée is a harmonious fusion of Muskateller and Riesling, harvested the mountains of Mandel, in the Rhineland-Palatinate region.Combining our creative forces with Pauline and Carl of GLOW GLOW we produced an exclusive, limited-edition natural wine.

It all began at my friend Carlo’s birthday at MD Bar in Cologne in December 2021. I had a conversation with Johannes Ipfelkofer, the owner of Frohnatur, an online and physical store for nature wines, as well as the Frohnatur Weinstube restaurant. We discussed the possibility of collaborating on creating a wine and how we could make it happen. Fortunately, it wasn’t just a tipsy night idea. We carried on with the conversation in the following weeks and formulated a plan...

THE CONNECTION
Johannes and I share common friends, Pauline and Carl Baumberger, who happen to be two of the most talented and big hearted young winemakers in Germany. I initially met Pauline during the first graphic design workshop I conducted at the design university in Mainz back in 2011. I reached out to Pauline and shared our idea with her, asking if they would be interested in collaborating. We had a call with Pauline and Carl to discuss the details, and they said yes!

THE HARVEST 
In line with our prior collaborations, we wanted to delve into another industry to learn firsthand about the product creation process. In September 2022, we traveled to Mandel, a town in southwest Germany, to join the Baumberger’s during the wine harvest. It was an incredible experience for us once again. We were a great group of people from all over Europe. We spent the days in the steep wine mountains, harvesting the Riesling grapes and participating in the opening of the maceration carbonique buckets and the pressing of the Muskateller grapes on too rainy days. A truly special moment as the aromatics of the grapes filled the whole room. We stayed just a few days but could see the process of making wine from zero to the end. How good it feels to harvest your future wine! 

THE COMMUNITY 
Afterward, we organized an online event, An evening with GLOW GLOW in our PRESENT Community Space, where we discussed their backgrounds and motivations, together with many great questions from fellow Present People in the community. We love Pauline and Carl’s enthusiasm and openness and are grateful for the opportunity to collaborate on this adventure.

THE WINE 
In June 2023, Pauline and Carl bottled the wine in Mandel. It is a highly limited edition of Riesling Cuvée, a blend of Riesling and Muskateller. Both grow on one south-facing steep slope next to each other on red sandstone. Muskateller grapes taste of elderflower and lychee, the most expressive and sensational grapes when it comes to the taste of the berries. The Riesling was harvested later on an already much colder fall morning and was directly pressed to express its purest form and elegance. The two varieties combine the aromatic funk (of the Muskateller) and the crisp acidity (of the Riesling) — an exciting combination of two very different characters merging into one. While we were in Barcelona (and drinking natural wine), Sarah and I designed the labels. The design combines the classic GLOW GLOW labels with our Present symbol and a unique handwritten number for each bottle. Cheers!