On the 22 of January, 1997, an agreement between Canton Zurich and Caves Mövenpick AG created a new business out of an old institution, with roots dating back 800 years: The Zürich Staatskellerei (city wine cellars). But, that is only the last of several major shifts for the institution.
The story, complex as a fine wine, has literary, revolutionary, political, and medicinal elements - as a matter of fact I am drinking some for medicinal reasons right now. Since I started with the recent past, I’ll finish that in this post, then over the next few weeks take you back to the 12th century and bring you back up to the present.
The deal between Caves Mövenpick, part of Mövenpick's consumer division, and the Canton of Zurich, turned the stagnating city-run ex-monastery over to private enterprise. This is part of efforts to boost trade and ensure viability of small producers by creating cooperatives. This deal effectively puts the Mövenpick/Staatskellerei into a cooperative of Zurich wine and juice producers, which should benefit small producers: they’re obligated to use grapes from the Zurich vineyards and to continue using existing suppliers, plus are to “ensure” a first class product and instill strict quality control.
Mövenpick agreed to invest, quite significantly, to upgrade both vineyards and facilities, not to mention cranking up the marketing machine. The old Cellars of the Barefoot Monks Monestary have been renovated and turned into a Zurich wine center and sales room, offering other Zurich-produced wines and products, along with Staatskellerei wines.
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
