Concierge Blog

From Munich to Vilpian by bike: 270km, a 16-hour ride, 2500 meters of altitude difference. Starting at 4:00 in the morning, passing Bad Tölz, the Sylvenstein dam, Lake Achen, riding through the Inn valley, up the Brenner and then along the cycle path from the Italian border exactly 100km to the Sparerhof. Could it be a coincidence that the Sparerhof is exactly 100km away from both Reschen and Brenner?

Time for a road trip. The Concierge loads a big quantity of wine from the Cantina Terlano into his truck, to deliver to the wine cellar of a good colleague. Then he continues towards Treviso, more precisely towards Roncade, on his own initiative, to visit the Bekeke winery, whose wines were created by Simone Maculan, agronomist, and oenologist.

The journey continues, with the aim of loading a pallet of Prosecco in Valdobbiadene and then continuing towards Belluno to buy new glasses.

After Belluno a short detour to the Dolomites, which are particularly beautiful in this early summer sunshine, and then back to the Sparerhof.

A detour that is strenuous but rewarding!

At least that was the plan...

From Terlan we take the A22 motorway in the direction of Modena; in Verona we leave the motorway and follow the road until the Oppeano exit. This is what the navigator indicates after all, and then... JUNCTION! abrupt braking, clutch and... Hello? The clutch won't work.

HI-VIS vest pulled out of the car drawer, safety triangle on the road and the next car-workshop called. With all these fine wines in the car... Fortunately, the depot where we wanted to bring the wines is only a few kilometres away. One phone call and one reloading later, the car is still in the same place, but at least without load.

At lunchtime, the car is at the mechanic and the concierge is busy with phone calls to postpone or cancel appointments, a trip to the Dolomites? Impossible.

Lunch consists of a porchetta sandwich and a glass of Soave in the green of the Veronese hinterland.

The emergency plan was to stay overnight in Verona and continue the planned tour the next day after the car was repaired. However, as shops, restaurants and maybe even hotels might be closed during the Corona pandemic, it was best to return that day by regional train. Verona - Bolzano.

Two days later: return to Verona. This time with the Freccia Argento, the Italian version of the Shinkansen, the Japanese super-fast train. In the meantime, the car was repaired in the workshop. As good as new.

The concierge returns to the wine depot, hundreds of pallets of wine are stored here ready for dispatch.

In a corner, a treasure chest:

Many bottles, individually and carefully packed. One label in particular strikes the Concierges eye: Château d'Yquem, 1944. The bottle is in mint condition. It has been carefully stored under optimal conditions, temperature and humidity constantly controlled, for many years. Price at the appraiser? About 10.000€

I wonder who they're selling it to. A rich American? A Russian oligarch? Or maybe a scratch-off winner?

Hah! On closer inspection of the Sauterne bottle, the fill level seemes to be slightly lower than it should be. That wouldn’t fly with a new one.

I wonder who'd want to drink it now. Maybe we'll find out.

Stay tuned!

Our hotel management software has a useful function.

If a supplier's invoice has not been paid by the due date, it will light up red.

Now that the lockdown is over again, in between all the items that need to be paid in cash to maintain a good relationship with the suppliers, there is also an invoice for the maintenance of our fire extinguishers.

According to the law, these must be checked by our fire safety outfitter from Tisens in their Lana branch.

The office manager of "Firetech", is a childhood friend of the concierge. Time to pay Karl a visit, or "Karele" as he is known to his friends.

On the concierge's day off, equipped with the exact amount of 102,48€ and armed with the South Tyrol Pass - an electronic public transport ticket, he takes the train to Lana - Postal.

On to Karele's office.

A quick affair. A delivery note and an elbow greeting later, the concierge is ready to head out.

Now, what to do with the rest of the day?

The concierge decides to return to the hotel on foot. A nice walk, about 8-9 km.

Starting point is the historical railway locomotive in Lana, along our walk we pass the old "Pomus" headquarters, a cooperative for fruit and vegetables, which in 2009 merged with "Ogol" into "Lanafruit".

A sculpture tells about the work of the farmers. If you continue to follow the route, you will pass historic farms like the Bach and Gerengut, which has been owned by the Karnutsch family since 1739, or the Tonner Hof, where wine was cultivated for the Tegernsee monastery in Bavaria until 1803.

We reach the parish church of Maria Himmelfahrt, consecrated in 1492, a late Gothic church with a bell tower that is 79 meters high.

Here you’ll also find the Schnatterpeck Altar, the largest altar in Tyrol with a height of 14 metres, almost 7 metres wide, made by the master Hans Schnatterbeck in 1503 and decorated with over 80 figures. After visiting the church, it was time for the concierge to get back on the road. 7 kilometres remain.

That’s not nearly far enough for the concierge and so instead, he decided to continue along one of the ancient water channels, the so-called “Waalwege”.

The Waalweg runs for 12 km from Töll to Lana and is thus the longest Waalweg in South Tyrol and offers a view of the church of St. Margaret of Antioch and its beautiful frescoes.

The Waalweg leads right through the middle of chestnut woods, which grow to an average height of over 20-25 metres and can live to be over 500 years old. These trees are cultivated in South Tyrol not only for their edible fruits, but also for their wood. In addition, the chestnut trees provide a habitat for many birds and other animal species and protects the soil from frost and erosion.

The route takes us to the Lebenberg Castle. Along the path we look down on the city of Cermes and walk along the long walls of Lebenberg Castle, also known as Castel Monteleone in Italian.

The castle is the villages symbol. It was built in the 13th century by the Lords of Marling. The castle can be visited, but unfortunately for the concierge, not today. The way is still long, and he is beginning to feel his legs.

The concierge arrives on a hill above Marling and enjoys a spectacular view of the Merano Hippodrome and the city. A short break offers itself.

Unfortunately, this break proves to much for the concierge. The view is just too good and the bench to comfortable. His strength continues to dwindle.

The concierge decides to leave for Marling and heads toward the train station. A short wait for the train later, he boards the train and finally heads home.

Thank you Karele and the bill I had to pay. The concierge was able to spend a nice day because of it.

Stay tuned!!

Spinach and ricotta for the "Schlutzkrapfen"

The concierge recently drove to Lana, which is only a few kilometres from the hotel and where, purely by chance, a farmers' market sells produce on the central street of the village.

When the concierge noticed fresh spinach, he did not hesitate for a moment and made his first purchase. He continued to the concierge's favorite dairy farm, cheese was already on the shopping list and all he needed for his personal favorite meal was ricotta cheese.

Arriving at the hotel, the concierge, wearing the typical Tyrolean blue apron, started to prepare the dough and the filling.

All that was missing now was sage and butter. Local butter and self-grown sage. Some chives and voilá.

"Schlutzkrapfen", dumplings, "Kaiserschmarren", apple strudel... What is your favorite dish? We are curious!

Stay tuned!!!

The other day, to stretch his legs (wearing a mask of course, if social distance could not be guaranteed, which was not the case), the concierge walked along the Adige river. Not along the cycle path, but along the riverbank.

Along the embankment the elderberry is in full bloom. At this sight, the various uses of elderberry immediately came to his mind. In his childhood it was a tradition to cut off a branch and make flutes and small pipes from it.

Grandmother always said that you should always bow twice to an elderberry plant. Elder is so healthy that it was also called the poor man's pharmacy.

What the concierge remembers most was the refreshing elderberry juice. A delight on hot summer days.

So, the small, white, star-shaped blossom wildly growing along the riverbank was plucked and used to make elderberry syrup.

And now that the lockdown has been lifted and the measures have been relaxed, we can open the bar again and serve our delicious homemade elderberry syrup.

The ingredients?

Water, sugar, citric acid, elderberry, lemon, and organic oranges.

Tasty elderberry juice. Just in time for summer.

Stay tuned!!!

#Iorestoacasa continues and the concierge uses the time to clean the attic. Between a lot of wastepaper and objects that will go directly to the recycling centre, there are also some interesting things. A collection of notes, sketches, notebooks and books that should not be lost under any circumstances.

If we look through these books (since we have time for that right now), we discover that one of them is all about cheese. And in South Tyrol we have a large selection of cheese.

On these pages Mrs. Johanna from the Hotel Management School Kaiserhof in Merano lists all the different types of cheese:

1. low fat cheese

2. a quarter-fat cheese

3. semi-fat cheese

4. three-quarter-fat cheese

5. fatty cheese

6. full-fat cheese

Seventh cream cheese:

8. double cream cheese

And then explains how to serve it correctly:

1. the cheese must be taken out of the fridge in time

2.Select the cheese accordingly to menu and taste...

3. etc. etc.

But now comes the point our concierge is interested in.

Under garnishes, with which the cheese can be served, the following can be found:

pears or apples

So finally, we have an answer to the question what can be done with the remaining apples in our refrigerator: Apple chutney.

Now we just need a recipe. Maybe in one of these old books?

From an old cookbook from the hotel management school:

Wash and peel the apples and then cut them into small pieces.

Cut the onion into slices.

Put the sugar in the pot and caramelise it with wine and water.

Add apples and onion and bring to the boil with cinnamon, ground black pepper and chilli.

Then pour the mixture into glasses and let it cool down.

Do not forget to label the glasses, or otherwise you might confuse them with the breakfast jam!

The last box of apples of the 2019 season is gone. When the chutney is ready to be served with the cheese, the concierge will document it here on this blog.

As part of the #Iorestoacasa initiative, the concierge unfortunately can only take photographs in and around the currently empty hotel.

Unfortunately, without the opportunity to explore the wonderful places we have within a few kilometres of the hotel, we have no choice but to look around the archives and look at the photographs taken over the years during this period.

And so the concierge can watch the apple and cherry trees in blossom, or visit the lake of Kaltern and watch his brother-in-law riding his horses through the pastures and mountains of the area.

Meanwhile in our fridge, some apples still wait to be processed…

Stay tuned!!!