Heinz Winkler, the first Italian chef to obtain three Michelin stars and the youngest three-star chef of all time, passed away at the age of 73, a true legend of world cuisine, so much so that he had a decisive influence on German gastronomic panorama. The tragic news was also confirmed with a post on social media: “After a brief serious illness, his family said goodbye in deep pain”. Lo that of South Tyrolean origin who had lived and worked in Germany since 1978 was hospitalized in Rosenheim, Bavaria, after having collapsed in his hotel-restaurant ‘Residenz Heinz Winkler in Aschau’ in Aschau am Chiemsee, also in Bavaria. , who had been driving since 1991. He died in the night between Friday 28 and Saturday 29 October due to multi-organ failure. “The Residenz was his passion and the greatest job of his life,” added his family.
Winkler was for a long time the youngest three-starred in the world, before being equaled by Marco Pierre White, 32 years old in 1994, and surpassed by Massimiliano Alajmo, just 28 years old in 2002. Winkler was the creator of a sublime cuisine, stimulating synthesis of influences Italian and German on a strictly French paradigm, learned at the court of Paul Bocuse, the master of Nouvelle Cuisine.
Farewell to Heinz Winkler, record chef
He was born on July 17, 1949 in Bressanone, South Tyrol, the youngest of eleven brothers in a family of mountain farmers. His mother died when he was three. At the age of 14, Winkler began an apprenticeship as a cook in Bolzano at the “Hotel Laurenz”. He then worked for a total of seven years in various hotels and restaurants in Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland. In 1973 he became head chef of two hotels in the ski resort of St. Moritz, Switzerland, “Schlosshotel Pontresina” and “Kulm Hotel”. He then worked for a year with world famous chef Paul Bocuse.
In 1978 Winkler took over the management of the “Tantris” restaurant in Munich, taking over from the great Austrian chef Eckart Witzigmann. He defended the two stars won by Witzigmann and in 1981, at the age of 31, he won the three Michelin stars, the highest recognition in the culinary world. Winkler has thus become the youngest three-star chef in the world. He defended this rating for ten years and in 1987 he also obtained two stars for the “Restaurant Tristan” in Mallorca. In this period he developed the concept of “Vital Cuisine”, which emphasizes wholesomeness and lightness, based in particular on fresh herbs and ancient recipes. “Food must inspire and not weigh down”, Winkler loved to repeat.
In 1991 he left the “Tantris” restaurant to set up his own business with the “Residenz Heinz Winkler”, a luxurious hotel complex with gourmet restaurant in Aschau am Chiemsee, which he had taken over and redesigned in 1989. Here too, from 1994 to 1995 and from 2001 to 2008, it repeatedly achieved the highest rating in the Michelin Guide and has consistently achieved two stars ever since. Many other awards followed and in 2001 Winkler was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, a rare honor for chefs in Germany.
