Sundays in Deutschland mean very few places are open and that includes the Weinguts. I did confirm with two Weinguts in the Nahe that they were open this Sunday and no reservation was required. Yeh! It rained slightly the night before and the temperatures in the morning were much lower than we are used to. Not cold, just not super warm. Overcast skies all morning and very quiet.
I actually posted the last two days in the morning. Our Airbnb host Eleonore is so gracious and hospitable. We decided to do our seven days of laundry this morning. Eleonore decided to help us with her machines downstairs. By 12 noon, we had our load of laundry completely clean and dry. Always a feeling of satisfaction to have our clothes clean and a new supply.
As well, we were making plans with our Deutsch friends Philipp and Manu who live in Wiesbaden which is about an hour's drive from here. The idea was to meet around 18:30 for dinner at a nice place in Bad Sobernheim. The place we really wanted was completely booked so we did get a reservation for a nice place in the same complex about three minutes drive from us.
Weingut Hexamer had recommended lunch across the street at Historicher Landgasthof Zur Traube. The husband is a famous chef who had a Michelin star restaurant and decided to close it and move to this small town. We managed to get a reservation (over the phone) for 12:30 as the wife of the owner spoke some English. We had high expectations given the pedigree of the chef. Very authentic older building with two separate rooms for diners. Very thick heavy wooden tables. Old paintings on the walls. For this town a high end dining experience for sure. The menu was in Deutsch of course and while our German isn't too bad for restaurants these were complex dishes. Our young server didn't speak any English so we needed to wait for the wife of the owner to come by and interpret the menu. As well, she took our order. I decided to drink a Riesling that we had tasted across the street yesterday and it was delicious. Their cuisine is French Modern.
The service here was excruciatingly slow. Every step was slow. We did not receive our lunch entrée until 90 minutes after we sat down! This was the same situation with the two tables in our room. Lana thinks the reason is the fact we are in a small town and perhaps the slowness just reflects the town itself. The food was excellent though. This was almost two hours seated for lunch and it is cutting into our wine tasting time. We ensured the bill arrived as quickly as possible so we could be outta there before 14:30.
When you arrive at your table they bring mini-chalkboards that cover the daily lunch specials. Very nice touch although we didn't understand much of the German.
The menu which required interpretation. ;-)
Chantrelle soup that looks like a cup of cappuccino. It was delicious.
Randy's roasted duck in a fresh plum sauce. Potato round pieces and some fresh vegetables. The duck was perfectly cooked.
Lana's meal of Schollen fish with a lobster foam and noodles!!
About a 30 minute drive to Weingut Gut Hermannsberg located in Niederhausen. Another interesting drive along narrow country roads in the forest and then a winding very narrow road to the top of a hill where this impressive complex is located. We could have taken an expensive guided tour of their historic cellars, but we were good with a wine tasting. The wine estate originated in 1901 and all their vineyards are Grand Cru status! The legendary Kupfergrube, the monopoly site Hermannsberg and the unique Traiser Bastei are their most famous vineyard parcels. Of course, all these vineyards are on steep slopes. This is a VDP Weingut with 30 hectares of land on six sites with a fair amount of volcanic soils which are good for Riesling. All grapes are hand-selected and hand-picked (no machines are used).
The Nahe river below surrounded by steep slopes and forests. Check out the farther hill in the middle of the pic for the grape vines. Wow, that is steep!
Sample of soil on the wall at Weingut Gut Hermannsberg.
Sample of soil at the Weingut. It is not uncommon for the Weinguts to show the soils found in their various vineyards. The main impetus is the fact that the Riesling grape pulls its taste profile from the earth.
This is a panoramic picture taken by Lana of the wine tasting room we enjoyed at the Weingut.
Another view of the valley below the Weingut and a small village which exists for the wine industry.
Another panoramic shot by Lana of the view from the wine tasting area of Weingut Gut Hermannsberg.
Their processing of the grapes is mostly gravity driven. They pre-ferment the grapes from 24 to 48 hours using stainless steel and wooden barrels. They bottle 200,000 bottles each year so they are a large enterprise. From the total grapes grown they only pick about 60%. Exports are to USA, Great Britain, Norway, China and others. Like many of the other Weinguts exporting to Canada is full of paper work and restrictions. 94% of their grapes are Riesling. We are welcomed by Christian Patsch who was my email contact. Very impressive and large room for the wine tasting! This place reeks of money. Their price list is higher than most others, but they really produce a fantastic list of Riesling. As an aside, their winemaker was chosen as the top new winemaker in 2013.
We spent a long time at this Weingut as Christian was called away on a couple of occasions with customers. We tasted 12 wines during our almost 90 minutes. Christian was very informative and passionate about their wines. One interesting discussion point was their label of an eagle and its historical significance of the reign of the Prussian empire and the history of this particular location. Christian verified that the 2015 vintage was outstanding. He thought their dry wines especially were helped by the almost perfect season. For their entry level wines they use screw caps and for their value-added wines they use corks. The reasoning is the entry-level Riesling are meant to be drank within 3 years and the higher and more expensive wines aged for many years using cork.
The VDP (Top Deutsch Winemakers) have a 'pyramid' system of quality of wines. At the bottom of the pyramid is VDP Gutswein. Next up is VDP Ortswein. The third tier and second from the top if VDP Erste Lage and the top of the pyramid is VDP Gross Lage. If I tried to do an English interpretation frankly it wouldn't offer much clarification. Basically, the very top wines come from the very best vineyards. Lots of discussion about the soils and profile of the soils for their various sites. It was again stressed that the soils the vines and grapes work with very much determine the taste profile of the Riesling wine.
Christian provided a great description of the GROSSE GEWÄCHSE (GG) Riesling wines as this is the top of the pyramid for the trocken or dry wines and marketed across Deutschland and the world. "A GG wine must come from one vineyard (Grand Cru calibre), hand-picked grapes, old vines, wooden barrels used in the process, Trocken Spätlese quality of grape and the wine is common to that region." There may be more criteria, but this gives you a good idea of the criteria and rules around GG wines.
Another excellent experience with Christian and this Weingut was the comparison tastings where you have two glasses and he will pour two wines so you can sample the differences. He did a number of these and it really makes for an enhanced experience and learning opportunity for both of us. As usual, so difficult to make a decision on the purchase of one wine. We/I decided on their 2015er Steinberg Riesling GG for 26 Euro (cheapest GG on their menu). Delicious and will age very well over many decades. Given this is a GG it is trocken (very dry Riesling) and will pair well with many different foods. Christian provided us with a fact sheet about this wine. Pretty classy!
Back in the car and driving to Weingut Kruger-Rumpf located in Münster-Sarmsheim. A Weingut located in the town and this place has a restaurant and a Gästehaus (guest house/rooms). My contact had been Jörg Traunecker, but he was no longer with the company and we had the extreme fortune of having our wine tasting with the actual winemaker Georg Rumpf. A youngish guy full of passion and pride for his wines. Plus, a very new father for the first time. I made a note that we arrived at 16:25 as we needed to be back in Bad Sobernheim by 6ish. When we entered it was their restaurant and we were seated in the restaurant for the tasting. Very unique.
Georg Rumpf the winemaker and our wine tasting host for Weingut Kruger-Rumpf.
Action photo of Georg.
Georg is the son of the owner Stefan Rumpf and it wasn't until he had applied to go to medical school and his father had an accident one summer that required him to come home and work in the vinyards that he realized his passion for wine and becoming the winemaker. They bottle around 250,000 bottles per year so another large operation in the Nahe. They are located in the far northeastern section of the Nahe and close to the Rhine river. They own 35 Hectares over a number of Grand Cru sites. Georg confirmed that the soil is so important to the characteristics of the Riesling wine. He believes the Riesling grape itself is very "neutral" so it soaks up the influence of the soil. He explained that the Nahe is warmer than Mosel most years, therefore, more dry wines in the Nahe. More sugar in the harvested Riesling grapes. A more structured wine results from the weather and the soils which are similar to the Rheingau wine area just across the Rhine river.
Similar to the other winemakers he revels in the 2015 vintage. Georg explained that the nutritions of the grape are just underneath the skin of the grape. When the skin is on the lees then it extracts potassium. More nutritions result in the wine juice. Maceration is two to ten hours, otherwise, if left longer bitter flavours may result. 90% of their trocken (dry Riesling) are to Germans. The market for sweet Rieslings is not as good in Deutschland as it is in the export market. He did comment that the Americans are now drinking much more trocken-style dry wines. He thinks a nice Kabinett makes a great aperitif prior to dinner and given it has a low amount of alcohol even better than other aperitif choices.
Despite the fact we told him we needed to leave earlier than later we both enjoyed the tasting and Georg's personality that we left later than expected. We tasted 15 bottles that represented the four levels of the VDP pyramid. Many comparison tastings were very enjoyable. Lots of discussion about the soils and their qualities and then influence on the tastes. We asked about residual sugar levels and balance to acidity. We might be beginning to sound like we have some idea of Riesling wine? Hmmm, nope...We purchased his Phyllit Riesling Feinherb from the lowest calibre of wines: VDP Gutsweine for only 8.30 Euro. Very balanced Feinherb with 14 grams of residual sugar so more towards the off-dry profile.
We are now in a rush to get back to our apartment to get changed and then to the restaurant by 18:30. Of course, there is road construction barriers within 3 minutes of leaving the Weingut and this results in driving in a neighbourhood full of dead-ends. Yikes! Lana is driving and the good news is her plan to get us back to the main expressway by going the opposite direction and forcing the GPS to recalculate!!! We get back to our apartment by 18:30, but we need to change our clothes and then drive to the restaurant. When the GPS confirms we are at the restaurant location there is no road that takes us to the parking area. We turn around a couple of times and find a road that curves under the road and then into the parking lot. Once we find an open door in this huge Hotel complex we need directions to the restaurant. There are three restaurants on this site! We arrive about 18:50 and our friends are waiting patiently and very understanding. Note to self--while the GPS figures out geographically where the address is and calculates the routes to take to get there, it has no way of knowing where to actually find the front door/parking sometimes!!
Our friends Philipp and Manu live in Wiesbaden. They became engaged while staying in the BollAnts Spa im Park Hotel a few months ago so this brings back very good memories. This is a modern and high-end restaurant located in a plush spa-resort hotel complex. We had a lot to catch up on with our friends and enjoyed a spectacular meal with incredible service. The servers were very attentive and spoke English only when needed. The ambience of the room was classy and elegant, but not pretentious. We were the last table to leave the restaurant! Very sophisticated space, menu and service which we thoroughly enjoyed.
The prix-fix menu with options for a salad, then you select what you'd like for your main course--all come with the same coconut milk sauce and vegetables.
Quinoa cake option.
Quinea fowl option.
Seabass option.
Fruit sorbet.
Peach melba dessert.
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