October 16, 2008
October 15, 2008
Germany Part 4: Winzerkeller Wiesloch
- A glass from Winzerkeller Wiesloch with their grape leaf logo.
The last three days of our trip were spent visiting Winzerkeller Wiesloch, about an hour south of Frankfurt. Caroline’s company is importing wine from Winzerkeller Wiesloch, so we were there to observe the production process, take photos for marketing material and talk business (ok, Caroline did this with her fluent German–I only caught bits and pieces).
- The town of Wiesloch. Some vineyards are visible on the hill in the horizon.
The word Winzerkeller means “wine cellar,” and Wiesloch refers to the town where the winery is located. Winzerkeller Wiesloch is a co-op, producing wines from all the different vintners’ grapes in the area. As a result, Winzerkeller Wiesloch offers many different varietals. The most popular and prized varietal, though, remains the Riesling. Since the 1970s, people associated German wine with a particular sweet, saccharine Riesling. While there is such a Riesling, German winemakers also craft dry Rieslings (the label will read Trocken). If you’ve stayed away from German wines because of their reputation for sweetness, try a Trocken Riesling.
- Spätburgunder or pinot noir grapes.
While white wines do comprise the majority of German wines (81%), Germany is not without its red wines (19%). The most common red wine is the Spätburgunder (pinot noir). While the American pinot noir is often a deep red color, the German Spätburgunder is much lighter in color, almost the same color as a deeper Rose. The pinot noir has been explained to me as a versatile wine, able to paired with food we normally think to pair with white wine (such as chicken or pasta) as well as red wine (red meat). Considering this, it makes sense that a pinot noir would be lighter in color as it is able to vacillate between the regions of white and red wine.
- Riesling grapes.
The harvest season in Germany is later than in many parts of the world because Germany’s cooler climate means the grapes stay on the vine longer. Our visit in late September coincided with the Spätburgunder harvest. Winzerkeller Wiesloch has different quality lines of Spätburgunder–both table wine and premium wine–and the grapes are cared for accordingly. The table wine is harvested by a large tractor that straddles the grape vine. Caroline and I were lucky enough to ride in the cab of one of these tractors as the harvester drove up and down the rows of vines. The floor of the cab was glass so we could look down and see the grapes being harvested. I didn’t want to look down for long, though, because the view of the valley from 20 feet in the air was exhilarating. We bumped along, holding on tightly, as the tractor labored over the rough ground to harvest the grapes. When we got down, our host at the winery asked me, “As good as Disneyland?” “Better!” I replied. Unpredicatable, rustic, connected to the land–beats Disneyland any day.
- Harvesters hard at work.
If the tractor harvesting the table wine grapes was all excitement, the people hand-harvesting the grapes for the premium were all about community. When we stopped to take photos of them harvesting, they were all smiles, eager to hear what we were doing and joke with us. From the five-year old boy from Denmark to the 85-year old woman who had been harvesting grapes her entire life, the workers had cultivated their own community while harvesting these grapes. Our host explained that for these workers harvesting is something they enjoy doing doing together: they rise early in the morning, work hard for hours (hard work tempered by deep jollity) and at noon feast together on Zwiebelkuchen and Federweisser or other German fare.
- The Kapelle in the middle of the vineyards.
The vineyards of Wiesloch provided a gathering place not only for the harvesters, but also for community members by providing a place to pursue leisure activities. A troupe of ten year old boys pedaled hard up the steep hills on their bikes; an older couple walked along the dirt road, sampling the grapes; and a young family rode their bikes, kids in the bike trailer, dog running alongside them. For the people of Wiesloch, the vineyards and winery are an essential part of both the local economy and recreation.
- Oak barrels holding the premium wine.
After the grapes are harvested, they are driven by tractor to the winery as often as every thirty minutes. The grapes are immediately pressed so as to maximize their potential. After pressing, the wine is put into large casks, either steel or oak depending on the wine being made, sugar is added and the wine is left to ferment. Caroline and I were guided through the warehouse where large steel casks brushed the top of the 30 foot ceiling. In a smaller hallway, ten 40 liter wooden barrels held prized wine reserved for the Christmas season. We sampled wine that had been fermenting for one week (it still had its carbonation), wine in the oak barrels that had recently been put in the oak barrels (lacked some depth) and the premium wine (Wunderbar! Deep, layered, rich).
- Conveyor belt in the bottling department.
Next it was off to the bottling department. Between the clinking of hundreds of glass bottles and the not-too-gentle hum of the machines, it is no wonder the workers were wearing ear plugs. Steam rose from the machine that washed and sanitized the bottles. The bottles were then shuffled along a conveyor belt, whirled round the filling spigots, capped (these particular caps were screw caps) and labels were attached. After being distributed among boxes, the wines were stored in a warehouse until they were sold to grocery stores, alcohol stores or other clients. Some wines were sent to the retail center and tasting room, where one could sample the various wines and purchase their favorites.
Tomorrow: more photos from Winzerkeller Wiesloch.
October 14, 2008
Germany Part 3: Weingut Stutzmann
The drive from Meckenheim to Einselthum was beautiful--little villages with red roofs, sparkling rivers and ruined forts.
Driving through Einselthum to Weingut Stutzmann. The German villages reminded me of the villages in England.
Weingut Stutzmann. On the other side of the house there is a courtyard, barn, cellar and of course, the vineyards.
View from the back.
Flowers in windowbox.
Notice the reflection of the church steeple in the tractor window? Every German village had a steeple reaching higher than any of the other buildings.
Grapes. Or Trauben, as they say in Deutschland.
More grapes.
Casks.
Crate of Stutzmann wine. The Stutzmann winery has been in operation for 130 years.
Corks.
Labels.
Walnuts from the walnut tree in the backyard.
Discussing the corks.
Reflection.
October 13, 2008
Germany Part 2: Meckenheim in Photos
Our hostess, the wonderful Kuchen baker.
Relaxing in the afternoon sunshine.
Our hosts' granddaughter, Leonie.
What remained of the popular Apfelkuchen.
After our Kuchen, we went on a bike ride through Meckenheim.
Here I am with our host and Leonie. The apartment on the left is where my family and I used to live.
See the small square window in the center of the photo? That was my room, which was actually a second kitchen. Our family actually had two adjoining apartments because the typical four-person apartment was too small for our family of six.
Same apartment from a different angle. I remember standing on the balcony and looking out on the street. The trees and plants certainly have grown a lot in the last 18 years.
Caroline is standing with the bicycles. Every bicycle has to be registered in Germany, and children have to pass a bike test and driving course in 4th grade to receive a special bicycle license.
Caroline sneaks one last look at our old backyard.
Many of the streets in Meckenheim were named after composers. This is Mozartstrasse, and we lived on Beethovenstrasse.
This is Caroline's elementary school, which she rode her bike to every day. Notice the European Union flag painted on the school building.
Leonie loved going down the slide at the park and didn't want to go home!
September 19, 2008
Auf Wiedersehen, Amerika!
In a couple hours I’ll be heading to the airport to catch my flight to Frankfurt. I probably won’t be updating my blog for about a week, but check back next weekend for pics and stories of my adventures in the German wine country.
If you haven’t already seen it, check out the new “For the Reader” page at the top of my blog — it will help you stay up-to-date on my blog without having to check it all the time.
Gute Nacht, dear readers!
September 14, 2008
Destination Deutschland
Frankfurt to Bonn to Heidelberg.
Next week at this time I’ll be in Germany.
On Friday I am flying to Frankfurt where I’ll meet Caroline, who will be flying in from Atlanta. From Frankfurt we’ll go to Bonn-Meckenheim to stay with German friends whom we have not seen since I was four. I am really excited to visit the place I spent the first four years of my life (minus the first three months in California), especially with Caroline because she remembers much more of our life in Germany than I do.
After spending the weekend in Bonn, we are taking the train to Heidelberg, where we’ll meet the Winzerkeller Wiesloch representatives and go to the winery. It’s mid-September and the harvest is beginning, so we’ll get to watch the beginning stages of the winemaking process.
I had a fun time looking at the Winzerkeller Wiesloch website, trying to put my rusty two years of high school German to use. In July the winery had a wine festival and crowned three Weinhoheiten or wine royalties. There was one Weinkönigin (wine queen) and two Weinprinzessin (wine princesses). The girls had paragraph-long biographies and I couldn’t help but laugh when I read the last few sentences of each, “In Ihrer Freizet…” or “In her free time…” The exact same wording as in my German class textbooks, and I thought it was a silly script all those years.
Besides wondering what else I should take more seriously from German class, I’ve been thinking of:
–The Diet of Worms (the name kind of sticks with you)
–The Bishop of Bingen in his mouse-tower on the Rhine (Longfellow’s “The Children’s Hour”)
–The Heidelberg Catechism (Thank you, Torrey)
And of course I’ve been thinking about making the list of food I want to try in Germany-but only thinking about making it. After all, who knows when I’ll be in Germany again? This list has to satisfy me for an indeterminate period of time.
