ZwyerCaviar Trophy at the 25th Cartier Polo World Cup on Snow (2009)
September 29, 2008
ENJOY THE SPORT OF KINGS!
ZwyerCaviar goes Polo
WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT THE ZWYERCAVIAR TROPHY DURING THE NEXT CARTIER POLO WORLD CUP ON SNOW IN ST. MORITZ.
In January 2009 ZwyerCaviar will be co-sponsoring the world famous polo event in St. Moritz with a Bang. Invited guests may feast in our eye-catching CaviarDome on ZwyerCaviar and sipping at a glas of bubbly while tattling with other polo enthusiasts or caviarists.
Cross fingers with us when polo team Maybach competes against team Julius Bär! We of ZwyerCaviar look forward to this highlight with pleasant anticipation!
Caviar Production
September 29, 2008
Follow a short introduction into the production process of caviar. It’s very impressive!
Altough the people in the video dont seem to follow best practices of hygienic control (note that there are no sluices to seperate the different processes and nobody is wearing masks to prevent bacterial contamination).
And a tip regarding tin sizes: the bigger the tins, the more liquid accumulates on the bottom (’swimming caviar’). For me the best sizes are 125gr. and 250gr. of unrepackaged tins!
(Video comes in french. So, brush up!)
ROE TO RUIN
September 28, 2008
Yesterday it was about the Caviar Mafia in Kazakhstan. Today we remain in this profitable underworld which is protected by officials.
An Al Jazeera report about the Kazakhstan authorities ‘battling’ against the caviar mafia (or is it dancing?).
Sturgeon poaching and smuggling brings the sturgeons in the Caspian Sea to their end – within the next 10 years! Note that 90% of the worlds sturgeon population is in the Caspian Sea. Wild caviar is, as Caviar Emptor puts it, a ‘roe to ruin’. And not only for the Beluga, but for most of the sturgeon species!
The Golden Opulence
September 27, 2008
The Golden Opulence: Check out world’s most expensive chocolate – with caviar on top.
Actually it is not caviar, but either Keta red caviar (= roe from the Keta salmon), Tarama (= roe from carp or cod fish) or even Tobiko (= roe from flyfish, popular in sushi rolls).
Anyway, if you wanna spend a thousand bucks in sweets, go this way or better: get a flight to N.Y.C.
Caviar Mafia – Kazakhstan
September 27, 2008
It sounds suspenseful. But is plain dumb.
This video found on Youtube talks about the Caviar Mafia and its connections deep into the corrupt system of Kazakhstan authorities. It raises questions and doubts about how well CITES is regulating international caviar trade and why it seems so easy to get ‘green lights’ for trading with illegal documentation.
Don’t miss this, when poachers and ‘authorities’ are giving a show to the TV team! A big shame, proofing that your safer bet is on super-premium farmed caviar.
Champagne prices go bubbly!!!
September 26, 2008
The subprime is a problem for the masses. The super rich are driven with other challenges, like: how can I spend loads of $$$ with only one bottle. Well, best chances are that you settle for the bubbly. Currently we can observe a race between the different champagne houses, trying to reach the ‘most expensive’ tag. Here is a short ranking for the upcoming Xmas:
3rd: Perrier-Jouet’s Special Selection
Available in: Switzerland, France, Russia (or better Moscow), in the US, U.K., Japan and China.
Comes in a 12-bottle boxed set or single bottles.
Price tags: 50,000 Euros (12-bottle boxed set) and 4,166 Euros for the single bottle.
The guys from Perrier-Jouet’s expect to sell the existing 12-bottle boxed set to a total of 100 people worldwide (meaning, that it’s probably sold out already).
2nd: Boërl & Kroff Champagne Millésime 1996
Comes in 1.5 liters (Magnum bottle) and in a lacquered wooden box.
Not much is yet revealed about its price or where to find the product. But it is considered as being one of the most expensive champagnes in the world.
1st: This one is truly special!
A champagne that was recovered from a seabed! The bottles matured by the tides and the waves in the dark for over 80 years. Obviously they ask for a colossal price. Each of the 200 bottles of 1907 vintage champagne is on sale at the Carlton Ritz in Moscow for $300,000. It also comes flavored with a bit of royal history as these bottles were intended to reach the Russian Royal family in 1916 by the Heidsieck vineyard. Sadly, the royals couldn’t sip this bubbly, as the ship sank off the coast of Finland. However, almost eight decades later, when this intoxicating wreckage was reclaimed back, Carlton Ritz bought all of it to quench the thirsts of millionaires and billionaires.
For all the treasure hunters: good luck!
El Bulli – pure kitchen art
September 25, 2008
For all the ones who need some more mouth-watering delicacies besides caviar, check out the gourmet heaven restaurant of El Bulli in Spain.
And don’t even think about making a reservation for the next weekend. Needs a couple of months of planning ahead…
E L B U L L I - A R T I C U I N A
Sturgeon breeding programm at the University of Maryland
September 24, 2008
An interesting project from the University of Maryland about boosting the population of the atlantic sturgeon in the US. According to a source, it might face its extinction within the next 22 years. It also shows the reproduction and anatomic description of the atlantic sturgeon.
But dont test the words of the professor and put the fish out of the tank for an hour and see if he really survives…
Rare Sturgeon Key to Breeding Program on Youtube
Frutigen – Caviar from the Swiss Alps
September 23, 2008
Riders reign: neighbors near the aquafarm
September 17, 2008
For those of you who might wonder how life is in the upcountry of Uruguay, here’s a snapshot. This can be commonly observed in the tiny village near our partners sturgeon farm. It’s pure gaucho land.
Parking lot in Uruguay?
When I visited the project in April 2007 I was amazed by the spirit and vision of this project. But back then it was a mere spirit because of the couple of little tanks and the mayor construction sight one could see.
At first glance I liked the idea of this, using warm water in order to breed sturgeons. But on the second thought, however, this raises some questions regarding its main objective. Is it about minimizing collateral damage by not having to cool down the warm water anymore, or is it about creating high quality caviar?
Sure is, caviarists spend money over quality.
Guaranteeing 20 degrees of water temperature all year round may be interesting for the investors. Temperatures at this level speeds up the growth of the sturgeons. That’s true. And somebody wants to be sure to get his 30Mio. CHF investment back in time.
Sturgeons interest might not always coincide with the connoisseurs interest who enjoy the complex taste that caviar can reach under the right conditions.
Sturgeons have a similarity with pinot noir grapes: they prefer high temperature ranges. Their ’fight’ against nature (temperatures) is actually their nature. They need ‘rough’ winters so that they can not only grow but also mature. A complex taste of caviar requests complex, challenging life conditions for the females.
That is why the only goal of sturgeon breeders around the world should be to imitate their natural habitats as good and profound as possible – if they seek for high quality caviar.
20 degrees during 12 months might give you a stable quality – sure. But it might also have a boring, undistinctive taste. But than again, a mass product for the masses (’Coop’) with a price tag of 2000CHF per kilo seems to be appropriate all the way.
For all the others, get the real thing.
In any case, I wish my best luck for this visionary undertaking.
Related articles:
The Tropenhaus Frutigen Project
Article on World Radio Switzerland