We arrived at Weingut Matthias Müller located in Spay (pronounced shpie). This is a Weingut that is part of the Mittelrhein wine area. We are no longer in the Mosel wine region. I wanted to get a chance to try some wine from this area to compare to the Mosel. We were greeted by Maryanne who is the wife of the owner/winemaker and the mother of the other winemaker being son Johannes. They are absent harvesting grapes (Pinot Gris). They pick with friends and family. They own 10 hectares and contract another 9 hectares. In an average year they bottle around 150,000 wine. 90% are Riesling. Hand pick all their grapes. 5% exports and they go to Hong Kong, Texas, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Interesting that they are a member of the VDP and there are only five members from this wine region. How does their wine differ from Mosel? Mittelrhein produces very good dry wines, but especially Feinherbs. Wait up to five years to enjoy. Good sugar quality here. Acid is OK and more acid in the grapes then more residual sugar needed and vice versa. Their principle is that the wine is made in the vineyard and not in the cellar. How you tend the vines is the key to your success. The son believes in a little more in technology than the Dad. They have the current German champion Trocken wine which is a GG of course and costs 19.50 Euro. It will need five years of aging before drinking. We bought a bottle as we can easily see the potential. All the wine was excellent and so inexpensive.
Another couple was in purchasing some wine and we got talking. The older man has a sister in Stockton, California since the 60s. Lana is able to have some basic conversation with them german :) Interesting fact: Maryanne explained the reason they use the word 'stein' to describe the beer glasses is many centuries ago there was no refrigeration so the glass kept the beer cold. Stein in German means stone. We were at this Weingut for close to 90 minutes.
On the road to our first Weingut appointment. It seems that wherever you drive during our trip you will come across these gigantic wind turbines. In this example, they are just off a major freeway.
Weingut Matthias Müller. On the right you can see a modern looking narrow building. They had this designed a couple of years ago and it is so modern. Lots of natural light and clean touches. Apparently, an Austrian-style design to the interior.
Our wine tasting host Maryanne who is the wife of the winemaker and their son is the second winemaker. Yes, that is a lot of wine as we tasted 19 bottles.
We asked for a recommendation for lunch and she told us to just walk next door. There is a Hotel Alter Posthof and it has a restaurant on the ground floor. We decided to eat outside as it is such a beautiful sunny warm day. The server spoke decent english which was unexpected in such a small village. The food was pretty good.
Lana's order of Zartes Schweinefilet unter Weiner Salbeikruse mit haugemachten Mandelkroketten und bunten Salaten. Basically, pork medallions with bread crumb crust with sauce and a salad.
Randy's order of Herzhafter Schweizer Wurstsalat mit knusprigen Bratkartoffeln. Basically, wurstsalat with fried potatoes. A very delicious salad.
Beautiful white castle on the top of a hill that dominated the scenery as we were driving in the Mittelrhein. We had to take a picture.
I am not that bad of a driver but this another one of those crazy switch-back roads that is quite common in the Mosel.
Lana was laughing at how long this street name is--she said it would never fit on a Canadian address form :)
OUR LAST WEINGUT TASTING
Our GPS unit indicated about 20 minutes to Weingut Lubentiushof, but of course as always occurs in this area of Germany is that there was a barricade on a key road. We drove at least 10 minutes out of our way to get to our destination from another angle. Yikes! We are back in the Mosel and this particular area is called the Terrassenmosel (eastern portion of the Mosel towards Koblenz). Weingut Lubentiushof is located in Niederfell. Difficult to find parking on the narrow street in the village so we parked down by the Mosel. At the gate was a barking dog who was quickly calmed down once the owner Susanne showed up to welcome us. The dog became super friendly.
Weingut Lubentiushof is a boutique winery as their average production is only 25,000 to 30,000 bottles each year. They export (30%) some wine, but none currently to North America. They are only lately bottling the last of their 2015 vintage wines. They are well known for their dry Riesling wine. They own 4.5 hectares and all on steep vineyards. Susanne believes the difference between them and the Mittelmosel is their valley is more narrow and steeper slopes. All vineyards are worked by hand - no machines. Besides 2015 vintage they have had poor production due to weather. Plus, more mineral focused here and more stony ground.
Funny story that in the Terrassenmosel the men "stop shaving when the grape harvesting begins and will only shave when they are happy with the vintage." 2014 vintage was not good and her husband never shaved until February 2015. Susanne talked about this area has terraced vineyards given about 150 years ago the winegrowers decided to install terraces. Check the picture below.
They practice spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel tanks and do not use any wooden barrels at this time. 80% of the wines they produce are trocken or dry style. Another interesting story was they are not in the VDP, but were nominated this year and then in the final vote were vetoed. This was a real scandal in Deutschland. Some of the Weinguts communicate that they charge for their wine tasting. To date, of those Weinguts we never paid. We figure that if you bought at least one bottle then the fee was waived? This Weingut charged us 30 Euro for the wine tasting @ 15 Euro each.
Weingut Lubentiushof. Award winning designed Weingut (wine tasting room). Their actual winery is across the river near their major vineyard.
Susanne talked about one of the unique things in this area of the Mosel was the terraced vineyards. This is rare in the Mosel, but in this area most of the steep slope vineyards are terraced.
Wine tasting room at Weingut Lubentiushof. Very cool architecture with brick, concrete, wood and a beautiful staircase up three floors. Artwork, lots of natural light and high ceiling made for a great ambience.
Weingut Lubentiushof owns most of this steep vineyard across the Mosel. It is named Gäns (Geese) due to the history of the original rich owners once a year would provide the town with geese for cooking that were raised at the bottom of the vineyard slope.
Another bridge across the Mosel, but this one is incredible. Super high and it must be the same type of bridge they are trying to build upstream. We suspect the earlier "unfinished" bridge, once completed will look exactly like this one.
Map of Germany showing where Koblenz is located. :-)
Some adventure in trying to get close to our hotel in the Altstadt zone of Koblenz. We are staying in the Altstadt Hotel Koblenz located in the heart of the "old town". The GPS takes us to a designed barricade road and no entry possible. We find a temporary parking area close by and Lana heads to get the keys to the hotel and find a parkade. As I am parked a young guy parks right behind our car boxing us in. When he returns and we are waiting for him he gives me grief! Anyway, Lana has a map that shows a parkade close to our hotel and she finds it on the GPS so it can take us there! As well, we have a map of Koblenz. When Lana checked into the hotel it was in their coffee shop. Lana is 5-0 today with finding things: she found the hotel, the parkade, the hotel again walking from the parkade, Starbucks and lastly, the restaurant for dinner tonight. She's on a streak today as sometimes she can be directionally challenged!!
Of course, no elevator so we humped our heavier suitcases (wine bottles) up two floors. We kept the carry-on luggage in the vehicle as it has about 10 bottles of wine. We have a clean and small room with an excellent wifi. Lana somehow discovers a shoe store with a pair of ankle boots on sale! Lana is supposed to be on a mission to find the Starbucks that isn't too far away and inadvertently ends up at a shoe sale. I am a little dubious!!! We sat outside Starbucks in the shade doing some people watching. The first thing that was so obvious to us is that we were in a city! More cosmopolitan, many cultures, people dressed in the latest styles etc. A sense of energy in the air. Plus, we were not surrounded by grey-haired baby boomers and cyclists. There were even Asian couples strolling around.
Beautiful modern building in a mall across the street from the Altstadt. Check out the designs. We took this picture while sitting outside the Starbucks which adjoins this imposing building.
The last Weingut gave us a recommendation for dinner tonight in Koblenz. Gerhards Genussgesellschaft restaurant located in Deutsches Eck area is our destination tonight. We arrived at 18:40 and got a table outside. Unusual location as the restaurant is behind some high walls. We were asked by staff to move closer so no problem. Our server spoke some english and provided an english menu. This is a classy restaurant and the prices are above average, but the quality is there. We loved our meal and the ambience and would recommend this place. Ironically, it does not serve German food.
Our Riesling wine was served very chilled. We have noticed in other Mosel restaurants that the Riesling is served much colder. I like it colder as well, but if it is too cold then you lose the nose and the taste until it warms.
Last glasses of Mosel wines. 2014er Riesling Weingut Heymann-Lowenstein and 2014er TANJA Cuvée Rosé, trocken Schlosskellerei Affaltrach, Württemberg.
Order of Fregola Sarda (Sardinian pasta similar to Israel couscous) with Salsiccia (italian sausage) and shaved Pecorino and sage butter. Very yummy and interesting pasta which was super little balls.
Order of Grilled pulp (Octopus) with Sepia-Mayonnaise, chorizo sausage, olives and baked potatoes. Very tender and juicy octopus. Lana had checked the menu online earlier and noted that there was this octopus dish available. She knows that I love octopus :)
Deutsches Eck Koblenz. This is where the Mosel (on the right) empties into the mighty Rhine river (located along the bottom of the photo). After our dinner tonight we walked over to this landmark although it was very dark so no chance of our pictures. Lots of river traffic and a number of tourist boats pulled up moored and serving dinner to their customers. Two of the boats were from Strasbourg, France.
This is a video of the faucet in the tub at our hotel in Koblenz. Lana was laughing in the bathroom after saying that she was going to miss the jacuzzi tub from our last hotel room. She asked me to come and see this and it was pretty phallic :-)
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