Concierge Blog
A busy weekend lies in front of the Concierge. Finally, he is back in his element. In compliance with the safety rules for dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic all the guests staying at the hotel this weekend are professional athletes or otherwise involved with the upcoming bike race in Nals.
All participants and accompanying personnel have to undergo regular tests.
The Concierge is keeping busy. Expensive bikes have to be safely stored and athletes need tending to, so that they may prepare for the upcoming race.
Mainly young cyclists are staying at the hotel but also some more experienced riders. The race itself is divided into various groups:
Women - rookies and juniors
Beginners 1 & 2
Cadets 1 & 2
Even while the athletes rest, the Concierge’s efforts continue. Vans loaded with mountain bikes are pulling into the parking lot. The van drivers are asking for a garden hose, which the Concierge of course provides. He wonders: will 50 meters suffice? And, what for exactly?
Quite boringly, the hose is used to clean the bikes. But the bikes are far from boring, professional mountain bikes, the Concierge couldn’t even guess how much one of these would go for… He watches with interest as they are washed, checked and adjusted. The parking lot is transformed into an improvised bicycle workshop. The bikes flashing clean in the sunlight. For now at least, mountain bikes don’t tend to stay clean for long.
Not only participants of the race stay at the hotel. On one hand the Concierge welcomes the teams with their athletes, mechanics, van drivers, a sports doctor and the athletes parents, and on the other hand a group of race technicians, commentators, journalists and photographers are staying the weekend.
A big thank you to Michele Mondini, who is not also one of the event’s photographers, but also the organizer behind the race.
Congratulations to the winners and all other participants of this year’s edition.
One of the winners spent the night here at the hotel. Of course, the Concierge asked for a picture.
© Michele Mondini
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
As you might recall, the concierge and his following had the possibility to visit the seat of the Anheuser-Busch InBev brewery in Munich on the 27th of September 2017
Klaus, friend and long-time guest at the Sparerhof, invited us for a visit during the Oktoberfest.
Klaus and his group of co-workers decided to visit South Tyrol for their special leave this year, choosing between Lisbon, Vienna, London and South Tyrol, they made the right decision, a landslide victory for South Tyrol.
Thank you Klaus! You and your team have impeccable taste. To surprise the group, we organised a tour of beautiful Kaltern and hike along the wine road with a panoramic view of the lake.
Walther, partner at the vineyard Kaltern had the stove ready and conveniently fired, for us to try fresh polenta. Walther stands for a true South Tyrolean, pure, direct and able to hold one’s drink.
A true inhabitant of Kaltern, the Schiava stronghold of South Tyrol, Walther prepares a mean polenta.
Vineyards and orchards as far as the eye can see, but no corn. In realty the main ingredient for polenta was only cultivated for a, relatively speaking, brief amount of time in our valleys (300 years). With farmers soon realising that apples and fruit make for a more profitable crop and soon apple trees overgrew the landscape and exiled corn.
Polenta made in Kaltern
Even with the vanishing of corn, polenta made from the yellow flour remained in the everyday South Tyrolean kitchen. Accompanying anything from goulash, to sausages and cheese to barley coffee, traditionally eaten during the grape harvest.
Some restaurants offer polenta gnocchi, rosticciata with polenta and vegetables, it seems to go with everything, fish and meat alike. Wein.Kaltern reintroduced the original polenta from Kaltern, “kalterer plent”, cultivated on some hills in the area, and serve it together with a glass of Lago di Caldaro.
The taste of the Kaltern’s hills and lake, not only on your plate but also in your glass!
Together with our polenta we had the inimitable “Hauswurst”
The wines:
Vial Pinot Bianco
“Echoes of the sea trapped in the vineyard’s limestone soil return on the savoury-edged back palate.”
Leuchtenburg Schiava Kalterersse Classico Superiore.
“The spirit of place and a sense of provenance. Lake Kaltern, with all its grace, power, beauty, austerity and a panoramic view of Alto Adige.”
A big thank you to Walther, for your hospitality and kindness.
picts © K. Brugger
