Apple Wine from Schwanheim
The short trip from the tree into the glass…
… that’s it though, what everyone wants today – the „regional products“ with the shortest possible supply chain, without detours, environmentally friendly, climate-neutral, flavorful, … suitable fruit, such as Rhineland Bohnapfel, Boskopp, Sternrenette, Goldpermäne, Landsberger Renette, Renette von Plenheim, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Apfel, Trierer Weinapfel, Speierling (but only 1 % – good for the shelf life, quinces (but only 1 % – good for the colour), it doesn’t have to be more…
Right enough, but it’s also not always good weather when it’s time for the harvest… The logistical effort is also not negligible: Where do I get the apples, the Speierling, the quinces, if the frost has struck again in early spring? Who has sufficient means of transportation available? Who is going to help with the picking? Or, does the local press house really have time for us when day X comes around?
Suitable storage vessels are also needed (carboys), a storage space that has the right temperature, and a little experience. After a few days there’s already a fragrance in the air as the apple juice begins its „rauschen“– and by Christmas it’s far enough along: The payback for the work tastes really wonderful.
Can this form of traditional subsistence economy without market orientation, without the defined division of labour and without profit orientation be a suitable pattern for future economic management?
Winfried Barth, Frankfurt 11.12.2017