Day 13: Even the car smells like Riesling now

This Saturday morning it is very foggy. The forecast is for another beautiful sunny day as the fog will eventually burn off. We decide to drive the 25 minutes to the Mosel town Neumagen-Dhron for their annual wine festival: "Weinstraßenfest Römerstraße". We want to arrive around 11:00 as that is when the wine festival supposedly starts. Although we arrive slightly after 11:00 and find free public parking just on the perimeter it hasn't really begun yet. No problem as we can walk the street to see what they have and grab a pamphlet. You can really feel the Roman history to this town and of course the entire Mosel valley. The town of Neumagen-Dhron was a major port on the river with an intimidating fort to protect the Roman townspeople and trade on the river. We walked down to the Mosel and there was another park full of German recreational vehicles. Back up to the wine and food festival for lunch and wine.

Buildings from as early as 1701! The building on the left is more than 300 years old. 

Deutsch 'marching' band playing at the wine festival. All wearing green tops.

Marker outlining more Roman history. I guess when you think of Germany you don't think of Roman occupation at such a large scale. 

 This is the Roman pillar described above. 

OK, according to the local real estate board this small Weinstube (wine & restaurant) is listed for  sale at 79,000 Euro. Located on the main street, but very small building. Anyone want to buy a small wine store?

Randy's order of Schwenkbraten kit Brötchen. This grilled pork loin over wooden coals was tender, juicy and delicious. One of my best meals in the Mosel and so cheap at 5 Euros and casual! Huge chunk of meat. Wow! Plus, this Weingut Des Herzews had a couple of Riesling to try. A 2015er Riesling Spätlese and a 2005er Riesling Beerenauslese. 

Lana's order of Schoales mit Apfelmus for 5 Euro. Apple sauce with a potato pancake made with bacon and leek. Huge portion. Lana really enjoyed it. 

These beautiful cakes in a bakery in Neumagen-Dhron.

We find these on various buildings across the Mosel. Lana's research confirmed this has a religious significance. It is called chalking a door and a traditional blessing of the home and celebrates the Christian tradition of epiphany. 20 and 16 stand for the year and C M B represent the initials of the magi (Casper Melchior and Balthazar) who came to visit Jesus in his first home. The second meaning it abbreviates the Latin phrase "may Christ bless this house." The chalk is supposed to be blessed. 

We returned to our hotel room in Berkastel-Kues and make plans for the afternoon. Still warm and sunny. We walk to Bernkastel and everywhere it is filled with fellow tourists! Also, a regatta on the Mosel with four-person crews. Lana had a seen a pair of shoes that interested her, but they were out of her size. We wanted to get to the Rieslinghaus to taste Weingut J.J. Prüm wines to make a purchase. This very well known Mosel Weingut was not available for one of our wine tastings. 

Rieslinghaus called WEINHAUS PORN. Yes, indeed. 

 This is outside the Weinhaus Porn so a great incentive to enter and/or taste purchase fine Mosel wines. 

 Our lineup of five J.J. Prüm wines (15 Euro tasting fee) with vintages from 2013 to 2004.

 We both tasted the five wines and came down to a choice between two wines: The 2012 Kabinett Graacher Himmelreich (19.80 Euro) and the 2009 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese (29.80 Euro).

Our decision was the 2012 Kabinett Graacher Himmelreich (Grand Cru vineyard) at 19.80 Euro. Plus, our tastings and purchases have been the 2015 vintage and some 2014 so this is a good addition to our collection.

Two cakes purchased at Meister Kaffee in Piesport to enjoy later! One is rhubarb cream and the other is apricot streusel cake.  Delicious :)

On our walk back to our room we decided to enter the Aldi Süd (supermarket in Kues) for something to take with us tomorrow on our hike with friends. We were blown away by these machines which provide your bread and other bakery choices. 

 You push the button for your choice and it slides into the tray below. 

Plastic gloves for hygienic purposes to take your bread choice including a slot to dispose of your glove afterwards.  They thought of everything!!

This is how your choice shows up.

Randy's choice of Weltmeisterbrötchen.

 In Aldi Süd this is a weight machine for purchasing fruit and vegetables which is typical here in Germany.  You weigh and label what you buy not the check-out clerk. I think the process works better to be honest and would save time and effort during check out especially when the clerk doesn't know the proper code.  

This is a fun video of how these automatic machines work for bread and other choices. I'm sure the people in the store thought we were a little strange making a video of it. 

**Lana here--a quick write up on business strategy and history for today. Yes, this is my geeky side coming out. There's a very interesting history regarding Aldi stores here in Germany. In a nutshell, they are a huge discount supermarket chain based out of Germany. You can see some Aldi stores now in the US, but they're not that common yet. It was founded by two brothers back in 1946. Their business model was based on cutting costs by not selling fresh produce, removing merchandise that didn't sell and not spending on advertising. At the time, this was very new and it was highly successful.  

You'll see Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud stores (indicating north and south respectively). In 1960 the two brothers split over a disagreement over whether or not to sell cigarettes and while their logos today appear similar, they are two completely separate companies and mutually agreed to split Germany into north and south for coverage. Ironically I believe both stores do sell cigarettes today.

Why would I be interested in the Aldi Group you ask? Well, Aldi Nord operates the Trader Joe's chain in the US!!! You know I love Trader Joe's. And the story continues as of last year, Aldi Sud has now announced that it hopes to expand into California--where Trader Joe's is based. So despite being two separate companies but identifiable as one, they continue to both co-exist here in Germany based on geography and compete directly with each other in other global markets like North America.  

I found an interesting restaurant located in Traben-Trarbach about 25 minutes away by car. Weingut Karl Caspari has a restaurant (Gutsausschank Weingut Karl Caspari) serving German food with good ratings on Lonely Planet. Our GPS worked well and we arrived for our 18:30 reservation. We have a table outside on a back patio with many other diners. The owner and his family run the restaurant and the Weingut. Service was personable and our food came quickly. The menu had english content as well. Our server has an electronic device that transmits the order to the kitchen. Plus, when you want the bill it is on the small hand-held electronic device. Our food was delicious and represented the local cuisine. 

Randy's order of Schweinebäckchen auf Gräwes mit Gräwes (Kartoffelpüree mit Sauerkraut) which is basically pork cheeks with mashed potatos mixed with pickled cabbage (sauerkraut).

 Lana's order of Schweinefilet of Toast mit Rieslingrahm und Käse überbacken dazu Salat which is medallions of pork fillet with Riesling sauce on toast, covered in cheese and some grapes and baked. Unique flavour combination but very tasty. 

One of our first days where I had not organized any wine tasting appointments. The weather was warm and sunny all day. We were in no rush to be anywhere. Time for our dessert in our room of the German cakes we purchased earlier.    :-)