Wednesday, July 16

Wine Tasting




We went along the Rhine river and the hills of the Rhinegau , a region famous for its Riesling wine, a white grape variety which is believed to have originated from the Rhine region.
Riesling wines are often consumed when young, if you have drunk Riesling, you might have noticed its fruity and aromatic bouquet. Also typical of Riesling is its crisp taste due the high acidity found in the grapes. Riesling is also the preferred grape in production of Sekt, German sparkling wine and ice wine (Eiswein),usually drank as a dessert wine because of its sweet taste (too sweet I think, this is not for me) . It is called ice wine because they leave the grapes to freeze on the vines till they harvest them.

It was a wonderful weekend, enjoying Riesling (which we normally don't). The V and I prefer wines from the south or even from exotic lands.
What is more interesting is that we were able to experience two different kinds of wine tasting.

On Saturday we went to a high scale, sophisticated wine tasting. There was an english speaking guide who gave us a lecture about the vineyard and the wines we were tasting. The dinner was expensive, probably one of the most expensive dinners we have been to. We even have to pay €10 per person for the wine tasting, probably for that english speaking guy! The wine was ok, the food very good but the service was poor! (It took forever for the food to arrive.)
The next day, our friend invited us for another wine tasting, this time to a down to earth, honest to goodness wine tasting. The food was simple, meatloaf with fried potatoes (hackbraten mit bratkartoffeln). Service was normal if not better than the last one, wine was great. You can drink up to your heart's desire just trying on the different wines - and the wine tasting was for free. The price was unbelievably cheap compared to the first one. Well of course there were no candles and white table cloth on the table but the view of the hills was fantastic.
My mobile phone was not able to do justice to the picture but behind the vines , far far away is actually the hills going as wide as you can see all vineyards!


sunset up the hills . .. what a nice way to end the day and to start the week. i almost feel as if i'm on a holiday somewhere...

13 comments:

Kayni said...

oooh, i like reisling too. they're light, fruity, and i don't taste much of the alcohol. i love the pinkish hue on the sky...peaceful and beautiful.

Gattina said...

You became a wine expert ? Hic !

Layrayski said...

nice! I love wine tasting stories. (About any other hobby stories, really.) Makes me feel as if I'm right there getting a bit sophisticated in my taste also. hehe

Anonymous said...

kayni - yes, riesling is a light wine. the sky was really wonderful that time, we were up the hills walking along the vineyard.

layrayski - yes, you can learn a thing or two on those stories. i thought knowing about wine is difficult but actually once you start, it's not that compicated - well you just need to drink more ;) - more varieties

Anonymous said...

gattina - haha, not a wine expert, i just paid attention to the speaker, i need to get my money's worth you know :)

Anonymous said...

come to Australia... we'll take you wine tasting!!

Anonymous said...

hi doris ..yay... i wish ..why is it too expensive to go there. i should do something like work and travel there to compensate for my fare .hehe - maybe work in the vineyards (*wink)
yes australian wines are making a name here in germany

GingGoy said...

want to visit a vineyard too and experience wine making, notjust tasting :P

Anonymous said...

Awwww, you know I love wine tasting, but have never been in Rhine valley - thanks for taking us with!
One of my fav is Riesling too!

raqgold said...

i love riesling. dont you know that german wine is one of the best in the world? yun nga lang very expensive sya dahil sa tax kaya you cant find it all over.

Anonymous said...

hello tutubi - i think that's a really good idea, you might be able to do that in australia, they have that work and travel visa and you can probably work in a vineyard and be on a holiday too.

hi renny - well next time you are in the area, i recommend that you visit it. there are really beautiful, quaint towns worth visiting around the rhine valley.

hi raqgold -oh i didn't know about the high tax but i can imagine now that you've mentioned it.the competition with the wines from other continents are even really stiff especially when it comes to the price.

bluedreamer27 said...

wow i never been in a wine making place
hmmm sounds great experience to happen in the fi\uture..hehe i hope so
i like this blog its such great thing to make avisit here...
i saw your blog as you comment in jenny blog in "our love story" and i decided to drop by here
i put your link already so that i can make a visit here again
have a great day

Anonymous said...

thanks for the visit bluedreamer.. will be going to your blog later. thanks for linking me :)