Our house wine – a unique product with vision

Characterising a product not only with your name, but also giving it your own touch is something special! In collaboration with wine producer Diego Mathier, Köbi Fahrni has managed to do just that. It is with great pride that he can toast today with Diego and a glass of wine – his wine.

Diego Mathier and Köbi Fahrni – you have a great and unique product in common. But how did you two actually meet?
Diego: We met through our mutual friend, Beat Hürlimann. In a conversation, the subject came up of shipping in Zug and that's how I learned more about Zug and the region. Beat is a childhood friend of Köbi's and that's how it all started to connect. In a get-together, there was great sympathy right from the start. For years I invited Köbi to Salgesch, until he "finally", combined it with an excursion and came to get to know my region and tasted the first wines with me.

Köbi: That's exactly how it was. Even our first meetings were very friendly. During our visit, we were more than warmly welcomed by Diego and his family. After a joint lunch with his wife and daughters, we sat down and did the first tasting - very seriously and with a lot of knowledge, Diego immersed us in the world of wine. Step by step, our own wine was created.

How do you came up with the idea of creating your own wine?
Diego: Being able to share a story and a vision is something wonderful and actually also the basic idea of this collaboration. 
We used the tasting very actively and tried with our oenologist to give Suzana and Köbi's ideas the desired touch. This process can be compared to a chef who is asked to create a special menu for an occasion. The client's own experience and vision are extremely important. The result is an interplay and a coined way of expression. 
We approached the final product in several tests. The tasting is always blind and reflects the customer's sensory perception - the voices of Suzana and Köbi were particularly important, because only they know their guests and know what will go down well.

Köbi, what did you look for in the design of the wines?
Köbi: The central point was to create something unique that we don't have on the ship yet. We have done very well with the "Petite Arvine" so far, but to offer an independently created wine with character and a distinct message and history is more personal. It makes us proud to have a wine that we as the host couple like to drink ourselves and that now also pleases the guests on the ship. The success shows that we have taken the right path with our own product. If the guest is satisfied, then we have done everything right. 
But it wasn't just designing a wine ourselves. Finding a partnership that works blindly and is driven by common interests is just as central for me. From the beginning, we had the vision to enter into a long-term partnership. It was never our intention to get only a few bottles for one season. A good 3000 bottles were bottled and the special label has even been produced for another five subsequent years.

You mentioned the label – what is behind the design?
Diego: The gifted Zurich artist Oskar Rütsche designed it. The painter and designer was at home in Salgesch for a long time. The label expresses a philosophy of life, which I also live. The picture is called "Artificial Intelligence": we can write, calculate, know geometric shapes and express ourselves in a variety of languages. But the most important thing is to go forward with open eyes. That's what the eye in the middle of the picture stands for! 
Köbi: Of course it is nice that we were allowed to imprint our name in the middle of this eye in this special picture and the anchor as a symbol of shipping and my own logo of GASTRONAUTIC could not be missing either, of course. And we are proud that all our names have found a place on the label.

And with which menus do you particularly recommend your wines?
Köbi: The white wine goes very well with our whitefish fillets, which are delivered fresh to the ship every day from the fishermen on Lake Zug. We recommend the red wine with a Brasato – a tender braised beef – or with a "Plättli with Zuger Mostbröckli". But the wine is also a treat with a tartare.

About Diego Mathier
The Mathier family has a long history in wine. They have been inextricably linked with the winegrowing village of Salgesch for over 600 years. Tradition, pleasure, emotion and innovation are the hallmarks of Diego and Nadia Mathier's vision. For the owners, creating the best wine for a unique moment of enjoyment is part of their daily work, because the basis for the perfect moment of enjoyment in the wine glass lies in the vineyard.
Over the years, around 40 hectares of outstanding cru sites have come into the possession of the Mathier family. Read more about the family business and its wines at: Mathier Weine von Adrian & Diego Mathier aus Salgesch im Wallis