We received a lovely email from Mark and Marilyn Kowalski recently, who are now living in the UK. They included this amazing picture of their Pfeiffer Pfizz tiles collection. Over the years many people have showed us the different ways they have re-purposed the tiles once the contents have been consumed. They have also asked us how these tiles came about. This is that story.
Way, way back in the late 1990’s, Chris and I were invited to go to Germany to celebrate with other Riesling winemakers in Australia, that Jeffrey Grosset had been awarded the accolade of Riesling Winemaker of the Year.
This was an opportunity too good to miss, so we went to Hamburg to begin the celebrations. Interestingly, this was where Chris’s ancestors left Prussia, as it was called back in 1838, to come to a new life of freedom in South Australia. But I digress…a common trait of mine.
Back to our Aussie Riesling winemaker tour. We visited many Riesling winemakers in Germany and discovered the variety of wine styles made from their most famous grape variety. This included a sparkling Riesling with a very unique label which was ceramic and made so it curved around the sparkling wine bottle shape.
We enjoyed the wine with our fellow Australians and then asked if we could take the empty bottle home with us. We were able to do this much to the laughter of our colleagues, who said we were the only people taking home an empty bottle of wine!! That was an interesting experience at Customs but once again, I digress!
Back home in Australia, we were preparing to release our very first sparkling red and white wines, to celebrate the new millennium in 2000. We were so excited to have a brand-new release of wines to bring in the new century and we wanted a special label just like the ceramic one on that empty bottle we bought back from Germany to celebrate the occasion.
It was not an easy task to find a ceramicist who could fulfil our dream but eventually we did. The very talented and extremely creative Chris Keane took on the challenge and produced a stunning celebratory design of exploding fireworks as per Mark’s picture here.
Years later and modernity of minimalism in design, the tile was changed to the more modern version, which Chris Keane again very capably took on. Again, check out the progression in Mark’s mounted tile picture here.
Sadly, Chris Keane contracted cancer and was unable to continue to produce our sparkling wine tiles for us. He died in 2017, however, his design and legacy lives on in the manufacture of ‘the resin sticker look alike’ tile we now have, which still gets great comments about how special the label is. Mind you, the wines inside the bottle are pretty special too.
We always serve our Pfizz at our special lunches and dinners and heartily advise you to do the same. These are wonderful wines to share and celebrate each and every occasion. The label is still unique and has been used to decorate bathrooms, as Mark and Marilyn showed us in their picture, kitchens, fridges and even cars. You may have decorated with or used the Pfizz tile in other places. We would love to know what other places (and countries) our special Pfeiffer Pfizz tiles have ended up. Please do let us know.
I hope these wines make it to your Christmas celebrations and that you can share this story to everyone who enjoys our trio of Pfeiffer Pfizz – the Pfizz White, the Prosecco and of course the most Australian of all pfizz…the Pfizz Red. Which reminds me of another story I have to share with you…and that is the story of how the Pfeiffer Pfizz Red came about. But I digress…and that is a story for another day!
Recollections by Robyn Pfeiffer
Mark and Marilyn Kowalski’s Pfizz Tile Display
