Category Archives: Wineries

Jun 02 2012
7 Comments
Germany, Something about wine..., Wineries

Wine travelling in Germany

I have mentioned it in passing, but Nina and I will be in Germany for three weeks in June and early July. I cannot tell you how excited we are about this. Not only for seeing friends and family, but also for all the wine tasting opportunities. Wine tasting and travelling in Germany is incredibly pleasant. The wine culture is still very much based on local, small wineries with farm-like structures. Now, I am not saying that the winemakers are mere “peasants”, on the contrary. They are smart businessmen, and they know they produce for a world market. Yet, they have retained a lot of the wonderful ease of access that their fathers established and that is one of the best features of German wine culture. It also gives you super-easy access to winemakers and their knowledge and treasure trove of stories.

Tasting with Stefan Erbes and friends in May 2011

While Nina and I lived in Trier, we would make a habit of wine touring on weekends. We would drive down the Mosel and ring random doorbells at wineries and ask whether we could try their wines. We were never turned down. We had wine tastings in fancy tasting rooms, kitchens, wine cellars and wine storage rooms. The overwhelming majority of winemakers was friendly, and once they realized we cared about wine, they usually opened bottle after bottle to try for us, and we often ended up hours later, with many wines tried. American friends who have taken part in these are usually amazed by the generosity (there is nothing like that twinkle in a winemaker’s eye when he announces that he still has a BA or TBA open for us to try…) and the fun. The winemaker will sit down with us and enjoy his wines with us. For me, it has always been like this, so that is what I expect…As a caveat: That does not necessarily work at the big estates with stellar reputation. But it is true for a lot of the wineries just beneath those.

Also, the tastings are usually free. However, I firmly believe in the principle that since the winemaker opened his cellar and wines for us, courtesy requires that I buy at least a case. The cool thing is, in a tasting you will usually find a wine or two that you like. Rather low prices at German wineries also made this affordable for this usually cash-strapped blogger…

Tasting with Mario Schwang of Reuscher-Haart and friends in May 2011

The 2011 vintage is said to be phenomenal. Check out the German Wine Institute’s vintage report here. After very low yields in 2010, 2011 brought vast improvements in yield and quality. The president of the Wine Growers’ Association announced: “In terms of quality, the 2011 vintage leaves nothing to be desired. Thanks to the textbook autumn a large part of the harvest has reached predicate wine level. Wine lovers will get a lot of 2011 wine for their money and have a great choice in all quality levels.“

So, naturally, I am super-stoked to get to try this vintage at some of my favorite wineries (and then share with you). We currently have made plans with the following wineries (in alphabetical order):

Karl Erbes, Ürzig (Mosel)
Within one wine tasting in May 2011, we became great friends with Stefan Erbes, the maker of beautiful rieslings…

Gunderloch, Nackenheim (Rheinhessen)
THE winery in my hometown. I went to school with the oldest daughter, and now her brother is taking over more and more in this excellent winery.

Dr. Hermann, Ürzig (Mosel)
Christian Hermann is a genius with wine. They produce stellar collection after stellar collection each year.

Klaus Meierer, Kesten (Mosel)
This will be a first for us. Really excited about the opportunity!

Reuscher-Haart, Piesport (Mosel)
Mario Schwang, the winemaker, is one of the coolest wine guys I know and it is always great to get to hang out with him and his great wines.

Vereinigte Hospitien, Trier (Mosel and Saar)
Used to be my go-to winery in Trier, with wines from spectacular locations. This time around we will get a tour of the cellars and try some wines old and new (actually thanks to my post about their 1987 which made the person that sold me the wine invite me!!).

Weiser-Künstler, Traben-Trarbach (Mosel)
One of last year’s biggest discoveries for me. Konstantin and Alexandra’s wines have a depth and finesse that is mind-boggling. Their 2010 dry riesling ranks among the very best dry rieslings I’ve ever had.

We will probably add some more to that list along the way…

If ever you get to go on a wine trip to Germany, give the let’s go and ring a random doorbell approach a try. I have made some great discoveries that way. There are incredible winemakers out there waiting for you to discover their wines.

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May 22 2012
3 Comments
Michigan, USA, Wineries

Fenn Valley Vidal Blanc 42 Ice Wine

The beautiful and fitting label was just the start for a great experience.

Having set the tone with my ice wine post yesterday, it is my pleasure to write about this particular one.

Fenn Valley winery is, according to its website, a family owned winery on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan and has been in operation since 1973. The farm is spread over 230 acres (93 hectares for my European friends), quite sizeable when you consider that my usual winery at the Mosel works on between 5 and 15 hectares (between 12 and 40 acres). It has to be noted though that they also produce fruit wines (a common thing for a Michigan winery, as I had to learn when I started checking out local wineries), so not all the land is used for wine production. Fenn Valley has a proud history of exploring new varietals for the area, such as vidal and viognier, but also riesling and gewürztraminer.

Their wine list is extensive, and as you will notice the wines are all priced rather reasonably. And the wine I am going to talk about now definitely makes me want to try more of their stuff, and definitely visit the winery.

Friends of ours brought this bottle as a participant in one of our wine and cheese parties. Being the German wine snob I am, I was at first skeptical: an ice wine from Michigan…ha. Well, we’ll see…Once I read that the grapes were actually frozen on the vines before harvest (same as the method in Germany), I was pleasantly surprised. It was also my first go with the vidal grape (at least I cannot remember another instance I might have tried it). The wine has 10.5% vol. alcohol, which is rather high for an ice wine.

The color was a beautiful light honey. The nose had candied fruit and honey notes as well, which I liked a lot. Another taster remarked on tropical notes. Tastewise, it does not have the acidity structure that a riesling ice wine would have brought to the table which diminished the experience a bit, because it made the wine very very sweet without a counterbalancing acidity. The fruit however was very well concentrated and I liked the long lasting finish. I thought all in all it was a tad too one-dimensional, but it was still a great work of art and skill. When I later learned that the half-bottle is a mere $15 (that is an insanely low price), I was stunned. This wine could definitely retail at a much higher price.

Another taster who had tried the wine on winery remarked on cellartracker.com (oldest post) that Fenn Valley had agreed to produce that wine for a neighbouring land owner who, because of the economic crisis then could not buy back the finished product. So Fenn Valley retained it at a steep discount and decided to pass that discount along to customers…WOW!

This wine is a steal, and a very affordable way to try a well made ice wine. Unfortunately, it has sold out at the winery, but I have definitely seen it at a liquor store in Ann Arbor. That means it is still around, so go hunt! It is well worth it!!

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May 18 2012
11 Comments
1987, Germany, Mosel, Wineries

1987 Vereinigte Hospitien Erdener Treppchen Spätlese

Photo taken from the winery’s homepage

I mentioned this wine in an earlier post, when I was talking about how German rieslings can age. I think it is proper to describe the wine in full.

The Vereinigte Hospitien (“Unified Hospices”) winery in Trier has a loooooong history and tradition. Its name stems from the fact, that until German Mediatisation in the early 1800s, most hospitals were run by the Catholic church. The Trier hospitals, that were also called hospices at the time, were unified into one corporation under public law in 1804 by Napoleon. A lot of these hospitals financed themselves by owning vineyards and selling the wine (just like universities at the time). The Vereinigte Hospitien are still a corporation under public law, maintaining several hospitals and nursing homes, and are a big employer. But they also never gave up winemaking, though. Through the church possessions, they own property in some of the most prestigious hills along the Mosel and Saar rivers. Most notable is the Scharzhofberg, one of the most famous German vineyards at the river Saar, but also Piesporter Goldtröpfchen, Wiltinger Kupp and others.

The winery has a tasting room were you can try the wines for free. Even better, ask for a wine tasting with friends in their cellars, which are among the oldest in Germany…dating back to Roman walls of the fourth century AD. I have been quite fond of their good but affordable quality wines. If ever you get to Trier (be it for its Roman ruins, medieval history, or any other reason), I recommend you go and check out this winery.

The bottle with the deteriorated cork

Now, this 1987 I got at the winery shortly before I left for Ann Arbor. It happens to be Nina’s birthyear (not a very good year for German wines), and Erdener Treppchen, a vineyard in the central Mosel valley, is one of my favorite. To me, there is something special about old wines. I immediately have to think about what happened in that year, and it feels like the wine gives me access to a time that is passed. It is like a captured moment in time, that has aged as well, and will be gone when I finish (or pour out) the bottle. It is almost magical.

We opened it for Nina’s birthday party.  I decanted it for about half an hour. As you can see on the photo, the cork had deteriorated quite a bit, but when I pulled it, it was clear that it had not destroyed the wine. The color was a lighter rhine stone. The nose seemed quite complex, I smelled honey as the strongest. The taste was surprisingly fresh, with a well boiled down alcoholic tone. Unfortunately, and I guess this owes to the rather weak vintage in general, acidic notes were strong and dominated the palate to a degree that some found objectionable. I thought it was still an acceptable level…it was yummy!

Cork art

With older wines, it is interesting to see how they taste after they have been open for a while. So, we preserved some and after two days, tobacco and leather smells started dominating the nose, but with beautiful hints of strawberry. It just kept wowing me.

And to give you an idea why I am often surprised by the wine prices in the U.S. I think I paid about 15 euros for this bottle, that is $20. For German standards, that is already a rather expensive wine…

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