German Trip

Write up to come once I get some sleep. For now, a look at our trip itinerary and then my individual appointments.

Landmarks of Wine Culture in Germany

Franken and Rheingau

Thursday, June 16^th 2011

           

 Weingut and Hotel Meintzinger

Babenbergplatz 2 - 4, 97252 Frickenhausen a. Main

Get-Together & Dinner  Ehrbar Fränkische Weinstube
Hauptstraße 17, 97252 Frickenhausen

Friday, June 17^th 2011

09:00 – 10:15  Visit &  Tasting at winegrowers’ cooperative

Divino Nordheim Langgasse 33, 97334 Nordheim/Main

           

10:45 – 13:15 Visit & Tasting

Weingut Horst Sauer Bocksbeutelstr. 14, 97332 Escherndorf

Lunch in Eschendorf

15:30 – 17:15     Visit & Tasting

Staatlicher Hofkeller Würzburg Residenzplatz 3, 97070 Würzburg

           

17:15 – 18:45  Dinner

 Residenz Gaststätten  Residenzplatz 1, 97070 Würzburg

           

19:00 Music Festival

Mozart Festival Würzburg Mozart-Night with Prager Kammerorchester

Residenz Würzburg www.mozartfest-wuerzburg.de

Saturday, June 18^th 2011

09:30 – 12:00  Visit & Tasting &  Lunch

Bürgerspital zum Heiligen Geist Theaterstraße 19, 97070 Würzburg        

12:00 – 13:30 Bürgerspital-Weinstuben  

Theaterstraße 19, 97070 Würzburg

15:30 – 18:00    Visit and tasting

Domäne Schloss Johannisberg

           

18:00  Dinner at Schloss Schenke / Weingut Schloss Reinhartshausen
Hauptstraße 41, 65346 Eltville-Erbach

21:00 Check-in at Radisson Blu Schwarzer Bock Hotel Kranzplatz 12, 65183 Wiesbaden

Sunday, June 19^th 2011

09:30 – 12:00  Visit & Tasting

 Monastry and Staatsweingut Kloster Eberbach

Domäne Steinberg 1, 65346 Eltville/Rheingau

                       

12:00 – 14:00  Lunch

Hotel und Weinhaus „Zum Krug“ Hauptstraße 34, 65347 Hattenheim

           

14:15 – 16:15   Visit & Tasting

Schloss Vollrads Vollradser Allee, 65375 Oestrich-Winkel

 

16:30 – 18:30  Visit &Tasting

  Weingut Georg Müller-Stiftung  Erbacher Straße 7-9, 65347 Eltville-Hattenheim

           

19:00 Visit wineBANK

Weingut Balthasar Ress Rheinallee 7, 65347 Eltville-Hattenheim

19:45   Dinner

Weingut Koegler Kirchgasse 5, 65343 Eltville

             

End of Press Tour

Individual Visits:

Monday, June 20th

Stein

Martin Müllen

Immich-Batterieberg

Tuesday, June 21

 J.J. Prüm 

Willi Schaefer

Selbach-Oster

Wednesday, June 22

Günther Steinmetz

Donnhoff  

Peter Lauer

Austria Trip: The Wine

Now that I am vaguely coherent, and before I head to Germany, I wanted to say a few words about the wines on the Austrian trip. For the curious, a complete list of all wines tasted can be found here. 

http://www.austrianwine.com/our-wine/wine-growing-regions/

First, some geography. Our trip began and ended in Vienna and was focused on the Carnuntum and Burgenland. These regions, in Eastern Austria along the Hungarian border, are known for their full-bodied and rich red wines, not the Gruner Vetliner that many associate with Austria. Although white wines are produced in the area, particularly the stand out sweet wines sometimes called "liquid gold," the majority of wines we tasted were reds, mainly zweigelt and blaufrankish.

Zweigelt was created 1920's by Professor Fritz Zweigelt, a cross between Blaufränkisch and St Laurent. It is the most widespread red wine variety in Austria. Zweigelt ranges from easy drinking, unoaked wines to rich and full bodied wines aged in oak barrels.  In my house, zweigelt has been mainly a pizza and meatball wine so I looked forward to the opportunity to learn more.  From Terry Theise: "The last word in red wine!. . . At its best this is oh-so- drinkable. . .  It always smells great! It’s  a cross of St. Laurent with Blaufränkisch and its most overt fruit note is sweet cherry, but there’s more to the best wines. Imagine if you could somehow skim the top notes off of really ripe Syrah, so that you had the deeply juicy fruit and could leave the animal-herbal aspects behind. That might be Zweigelt."

Blaufränkisch is a late-ripening variety with characteristic high acidity. It can seem quite astringent at first, yet soften and become more smooth as the wine matures, and fine examples have aging potential. Again from Terry Theise: "It’s of the cabernet type, a little bricky and capsule-y, and when it’s unripe it’s slightly vegetal. But lately I’ve seen much better stuff from this grape. In fact I think the quality-spread is widest here. Most of Austria’s greatest red wines are made entirely or mostly from Blaufränkisch, yet weak Blaufränkisch is less pleasing than weak Zweigelt."

I'm not going to give reviews of all of the wines tasted. Because that would grow rather boring rather quickly. Instead, a few general thoughts. Many of the wines we tasted were high in acid. These high acid bottles sometimes screamed out for food, but also showed a potential that excited me. Some had far too much oak, which is a style that does not speak to me. Others were completely approachable and made me want to stand or sit and enjoy rather than moving onto the next bottle. They were also mainly young, mainly 08s and 09s with a few other vintages mixed in. We, or at least the people I talked to on the bus, did not always agree. And that is the fun of a trip like this: not just the opportunity to learn, (I've described it to friends as like a language immersion course but for wine), but also to discuss.

Some highlights white, sweet and rose: Kracher’s Grand Cuvee No. 6,

Leitner’s Pinot Blanc Pannobile Weiss, Leo Sommer Leithaberg Weiss, Brundlmayer Brut Rose

Reds: Glatzer Dornenvogel Zweigelt, Preisinger Zweigelt Pannobile, Preisinger’s Pinot Noir, Weingut Hans Igler: 2006 “Biiri”, 2001 “Ab Ericio,” and 2000 “Jewel”, IBY Rotweingut Reserve Durrau Blaufrankisch, Straka Klassik Blaufrankisch, Unger Gerald  Blaufrankisch Reserve, Paul Achs Ungerberg Blaufrankisch

Next up, a few thoughts on the places we visited and, of course, the food including the best lardo I have ever had. 

Austria

Rust from our boat

Last night emergency schnitzel

Grapes

So I'm back. Sadly, my suitcase is not and the call from United Airlines last night to tell me they could deliver my bag at 1 a.m. led to words I should not write. Latest update is a possible delivery tonight.
I have a lot to say about the trip and will do a full write up over the weekend. But for those eager to see what I've been up to I'll share our itinerary and a link to the photographs of our trip. More to come very soon as the Austrian Wine Marketing Board puts on a wonderful event.

Saturday, 28th of May 2011
07.00 pm	Get-together on the Nussberg Rotes Haus, Vienna	Photos
Sunday, 29th of May 2011
09.15 am	Carnuntum Zweigelt Masters Winery Netzl, Göttlesbrunn	Photos
12.00 noon	Neusiedlersee Luncheon Featuring Zweigelt Restaurant Nyikospark, Neusiedl am See	Photos
02.30 pm	Sparkling Boat Trip across Lake Neusiedl	Photos
04.00 pm	Burgenland´s Liquid Gold Tasting Austrian Wine Academy, Rust	Photos
07.30 pm	Burgenland & Carnuntum Gourmet Dinner Restaurant Taubenkobel, Schützen am Gebirge	Photos
Monday, 30th of May 2011
09.00 am	Leithaberg DAC Tasting at Leithaberg Single vineyard site "Himmelreich", Donnerskirchen	Photos
11.30 am	Visit of the Esterhazy Palace Eisenstadt	Photos
12.30 pm	Pannonian Luncheon Restaurant Henrici, Eisenstadt	Photos
02.30 pm	Comperative Blind Tasting Esterházy Palace, Eisenstadt	Photos
05.15 pm	Vineyard Rallye & Private Dining with Winemakers	Photos
Tuesday, 31st of May 2011
09.00 am	Tasting of Mittelburgenland DAC Vinatrium, Deutschkreutz	Photos
12.00 pm	Eisenberg DAC - Luncheon and Winebar Restaurant Wachter-Wieslers Ratschen, Deutsch Schützen	Photos
07.00 pm	Big Austrian Wine Party Waggon 31, Prater