Wintercalville – Magnum

Kohl Grand Cru Wintercalville, an apple for the Tsar's court

The Kohl Grand Cru Wintercalville is a single-varietal direct juice made from an apple variety that was cultivated in France as early as 1600. Naturally cloudy and unfiltered in a magnum bottle, with aromas of white peach and yellow plums.

Wintercalville is the second Grand Cru from Thomas Kohl – and a mountain apple juice of a very special kind. Naturally, Kohl uses only apples from his own orchards; at his press on the Ritten plateau, he prefers to put old varieties under the spindle, exclusively as direct juice.

The flesh of this apple is yellowish, tender, very fine, and loose, with scents of white peach and juicy yellow plums – this results in a mountain apple juice with its own unique character: juicy, elegant, and aromatic. The name itself suggests cold regions. A journey that the Wintercalville has indeed made.

To the Tsar's court for Easter 1913

The variety was likely cultivated in France before 1600; in 1598, Johann Bauhin mentioned it in Bad Boll, Württemberg, under the name "Weißer Züricher Apfel." Its pedigree thus stretches back to the 16th century – a variety that existed long before most apples common today.

Its reputation carried it to the courts of Europe. At Easter 1913, the best selection of Merano Calville apples went to the Tsar's court: a single apple cost 3 Austrian crowns there, equivalent to 2.55 Marks. And at the beginning of the 20th century, between 0.50 and 1.50 Reichsmarks were paid for particularly beautiful fruits – this, at a time when an inspector earned a monthly salary of 412 Reichsmarks. An apple sold like a piece of jewelry, by the piece rather than by weight.

Pineapple and strawberries with champagne

How this apple tastes was already written down by J. P. Mayer in 1801 – it has hardly been described more precisely since then.

The fruit flesh is "of such an exquisite wine-like taste that one believes to be eating pineapple, or strawberries dressed with champagne," he noted. Two hundred years later, this very apple is back on the Ritten – and in the glass, you will rediscover exactly what Mayer described. In blind tastings, hardly anyone guesses apple with this juice.

The Wintercalville tree is sensitive and requires strong, good, warm soil. That is exactly what Thomas Kohl can offer it in his orchards between nine hundred and a thousand meters – one of the reasons why this variety thrives here, where others have long since given up on it.

Naturally cloudy, single-varietal, in magnum

The Grand Cru is pressed as direct juice, left naturally cloudy, gently pasteurized in the bottle, and not filtered – bottled in a 1.5-liter magnum.

The large bottle highlights the stature of this juice and Thomas's philosophy: a juice like this is opened for an occasion and not drunk casually. Single-varietal mountain apple juice is his specialty, and this is especially evident with the Wintercalville: fine aromas of white peach and yellow plums, a combination that has become rare.

Regarded as a gourmet apple in France

Served chilled at 8 to 12 degrees, the Wintercalville pairs well with pasta, vegetarian dishes, light meats, or as an aperitif. In France, the now-rare apple is still considered a gourmet apple today; it is served for dessert and often used for apple cakes – its juice pairs accordingly well with a tarte aux pommes. You can find the other Grand Cru under Ananasrenette, both are listed together under Kohl Grand Cru; the smaller bottles are waiting in the Kohl Gourmet Collection.