“So… spit or swallow?“

The last adventure of the day was spent with an old study mate from my Austrian wine academy days.

Our shared obsession back then?

A small restaurant in the very same town as the academy — the place where we fueled ourselves with Blaufränkisch and schnitzel, and probably solved the world's wine problems over too many glasses.

A Quiet Goodbye to Peter Schandl

On this trip, I learned something bittersweet: the restaurant's legendary owner, Peter Schandl, is sadly no longer with us.

He was a character — one of those fixtures who quietly shape a place's soul. Knowing he's gone made walking back into those memories feel different, softer.

Meeting "Kopi" Again

But some good faces remain.

Koppany "Kopi" Nadassy — one of those people you're always glad to bump into at professional wine fairs across Europe — is still very much part of the story.

Kopi has done impressively well in his career. After years of climbing, he's finally landed a role in a place that truly respects what he brings to the table. In fact, he was headhunted — and that says a lot in an industry where reputation is currency.

He also knows how to break the ice.

Our tasting began with him grinning and saying:

"So… spit or swallow?"

Nothing like a slightly provocative opener to make sure we were still the same two sarcastic souls from back in the day.

Two Minds, One Kind of Humor

From there, glasses filled and conversation flowed.

We tasted some of the wines he's working with now and slipped back into the same sharp, slightly twisted humor we shared as students.

It's a rare and satisfying thing to sit with someone who gets the same jokes and has traveled a similar road, even if our paths have taken different turns since those academy days.

Thank you the driving skills and great sence of humor :-)