Wine strategist
Sonntagsblick, 21.6.2015 – Diego Mathier makes the best Swiss wine without studying oenology, according to the jury for the Decanter World Wine Awards. It is his first vintage of white wine.
The award ceremony is over. Diego Mathier has received one of the 114 Regional Trophies at the Decanter World Wine Awards in the wine mecca of Bordeaux. But the 45-year-old is not going home just yet. An immediate flight home is out of the question. Because the following day he will have the opportunity to taste all 35 wines that have won an International Trophy. In other words, the very best of the best from the 16,000 wines submitted. Mathier does not miss out on such an opportunity.
A kindred spirit with the great Angelo Gaja
This curiosity is typical of the self-made winemaker from Salgesch VS. When the conversation digresses to the Piedmontese winegrower Angelo Gaja, Mathier immediately asks: “Next time you visit him, will you take me with you?” Mathier never stands still. He wants to try out new things and learn from the best. A certain affinity with the equally ingenious marketing strategist Gaja cannot be denied.
For a long time, Klein Diego didn’t know whether being a winemaker was really the right thing for him and his aspirations. He studied accounting and finance at the University of St. Gallen. As a banker, he spent more time abroad than at home in tranquil Salgesch. His next job was to take him to New York. The contract had already been signed. Then his father Adrian called him back: it was now time to take over his parents’ business. As is the way in patriarchal Upper Valais, Diego obeyed. And since 2000, the financial economist has been responsible for almost one million bottles a year.
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