I grew-up in my parents’ hotel in Lech, then left for thirteen years to study and gain work experiences abroad. I came back in 1997 and, one year later, opened the Restaurant FUX at a young age of only twenty-five. Having the opportunity to live in a village like Lech, which has such a great tradition in both hospitality and skiing, is a great honor and I was humbled to walk in the footsteps of our great ancestors, who developed a tourism industry from scratch.
After a tough start, we developed a unique restaurant concept, particularly at that time and specially for this location: a modern building, with a lot of glass, alongside the River Lech, containing a Euro-Asian fusion restaurant, a steakhouse and a cigar lounge.
I remember it was a late night wine tasting with friends and sommeliers in 1999, that awakened my interest in fine wine. We did a vertical tasting of Château Gruaud Larose from 1961 to 1996. I still look out for bottles of this great ‘61 with its coconut flavour...
From that point on, I started to read tasting notes on a regular basis, traveling to wine areas and fairs and organizing professional tastings for guests at the restaurant. After my first visit to Burgundy in 2005, I got completely hooked, not only by these incredible Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, but also by the people and their passion for what they do. Some of the wine makers have become good friends, who now also come to Lech for their skiing holidays!
For me, wine has become more than a drink, it is a passion and a time for sharing good moments with friends, colleagues, clients and, of course, winemakers. Sometimes, I bring a good bottle of wine in my rucksack, when I am ski-touring in the mountains around Lech. My skiing partners always get a big surprise, when I pull out the wine glasses in front of our beautiful mountain scenery.
After having collected wines for twenty years, the wine list has now reached the 4.000 labels and more than 55,000 bottles. As the cellar is becoming too small, it is now the time to make some space for the new vintages and give other people the chance to taste some of the rarest and best wines of the world.
Peter Stolz is the Owner of Fux Restaurant.
