Day 14: Rheingau wines (Saturday, September 3rd)

Our apartment and bedroom is pretty quiet. We both wake up around 8:30 which is pretty decent considering we went to bed about nine hours earlier. Lightly raining and 16 degrees Celsius. We are in no rush this morning being our first morning in Wiesbaden. Our apartment is located pretty close to our friends Philipp and Manu's house. We had no chance to buy any groceries yesterday. I need to finally get started on yesterday's blog and Lana walks down the Strasse to REWE and a neighbourhood bakery while I complete the blog. Plus, we are texting with our friends to confirm when and where we are meeting them this afternoon. As well, I get a message from our Airbnb host that a neighbour complained to her this morning about where I parked our car. I was not allowing enough room to navigate his car out of his spot. There are cars parked in the back like ours and definitely minimal room to navigate as I discovered last night when we returned late and all the cars were already parked.

         Our car now parked closer to the wall of our apartment courtesy of Lana this morning. 

I am the grateful recipient of Lana's grocery and bakery shopping this morning. This Cherry Danish pastry was divine! Light, buttery and the cherry was not too sugary.

Lana took this picture at Bãcker Dries bakery just down the Strasse. LANA: Kontaktloses bezahlen (contactless payment in German) has surged in Germany over the past year due to Covid. Given this was a very strong cash based country--it's interesting to see the changes. As I had over my money at the bakery, the clerk points down to show me how to use this. It's a system similar to those in self-serve check-outs at supermarkets. It takes coins and bills and returns the correct change or you simply tap your credit card. 

Lana's picture of Spätzle (German noodle) which we both love. She did not buy any yet, but before we leave Deutschland we will be buying a few bags of these to enjoy in Vancouver! There is also a special German potato noodle--schupfnudlen which you pan fry--which will be coming home with us. It's also delicious. 

Our lunch today will be in our apartment. An assortment of buns, coldcuts and German butter cheese that Lana bought at REWE. This will give us time to shower and get ready to drive to our Weingut wine tasting appointment scheduled for 14:00. We need to lunch and shower and leave about 13:30. Our friends will meet us at the Weingut. Weingut Eva Fricke is about a twenty minute drive from our apartment. Plus Lana needs to get to a starbucks for a chai before she goes into complete withdrawal LOL. 

Google Maps route to Weingut Eva Fricke located in Eltville am Rhein just west of Wiesbaden and in the famous Rheingau. 

We are meeting with our friends at a local gas station and then drive together to the Weingut. I drop Lana at the Starbucks near where we are meeting our friends so she is very happy when I see her as I drive to the gas station. Our friends Philipp, Manu and their twin sons Oscar and Paul show up and we have big hugs for everyone! So happy to see them again! Then off to meet up at Weingut Eva Fricke. A pretty short drive and we arrive early. The Weingut office/tasting room/warehouse is in an industrial area right beside the village itself. Sandra will be doing our tasting. Her brother is a winemaker along with Eva Fricke. 

My notes:

- probably start picking their Sylvaner grapes next week

- all their wine is fermented in stainless steel tanks

- their Weingut is 100% organic and biodynamic

- they own 17 hectares of vineyards so relatively small and they only use their own grapes

- almost all their 2021 vintage is sold out

- this season has seen lots of rain

- they do export to Canada and she believes both BC and Ontario so we could be in luck --- later she emails us with their Vancouver distributor so that bodes well for us scoring some of their wine

- the Weingut was established by Eva Fricke in 2006

- to be certified organic it takes up to five years in Deutschland

- export 50% of their wines

- for bottling their wine they rent a mobile bottling service 

- a real surprise was Sandra indicated that their very best Riesling wine should be decanted for about 20 minutes before serving --- I have never decanted a white wine but will try in the future

Our excellent wine tasting involved nine (9) wines and Sandra Schmid's pours were very generous. There was no fee for the wine tasting. Very informal standing at a table and then her pouring each wine and describing their characteristics and me asking questions. I made my wine notes on the one-pager she provided. Their Riesling is delicious, but different from the Mosel wines we had sampled. For certain the Mosel Fuder kegs impart a different taste profile and more full-bodied. They do share in common the fact they keep the alcohol volume low and maintain good acidity. Many of their wines are very dry which is a quality valued within Deutschland. 

The usual structure of each wine tasting is they start you with their 'entry' level wines and then move through their second ranking (Village) wines and finish with their third and top level wines from single vineyards. Many of their vineyards have vines which are between 30 - 55 years old which is a huge advantage when making quality wines which can then age. Some of their vineyards have slate and some quartzite rock which imparts special tastes to the wine. 

We decide to purchase two bottles of Riesling to total 50 Euro. The first bottle was a 2020 Verde Riesling costing 14Euro. 7 Grams residual sugar with 5-6 % acidity. A lighter style and very refreshing. This would be Trocken dry. Second bottle was by far more expensive at 38Euro and was the 2021 Lorcher Schlossberg Organic Riesling Spätlese. 34 Grams residual sugar and only 7.5% alcohol volume. We enjoyed this sweeter Riesling although the residual sugar is very low for a Spätlese. We will enjoy both wines at some time in the next two to five years.

Very early into the wine tasting Manu took the two boys to a local playground as it was pretty boring for two four year olds. We joined up with them at the playground for quite a while. It was fun to play with the kids although I don't speak enough German to communicate well. The playground equipment was pretty similar to that in Canada. Slightly cloudy so perfect for playing outside. We followed Philipp and Manu back to their home which is located about a five minute drive from our Airbnb. They have a beautiful home in a very nice neighbourhood. It was designed for an American couple and has a butler kitchen. Their patio faces west and has a fantastic view across quite a distance.

We did venture with Philipp in his 2016 Porsche Carrera to the downtown Galeria store for some food purchases. Cramped in the back seat, but worth the effort as I personally love Porsches. We did bring the bottle of Riesling that Hofgut Falkenstein had given us and I pretty much drank a good portion of it. I can't get enough Riesling! Lots of good conversation and then dinner. Tuna tartare, special barbecued sausages (we are in Deutschland) and other goodies. 

                   Philipp's Porsche. 

We want to make this an earlier night than last night. We say our goodbyes and back to our apartment by 21:30. Lana backs our car up so we are snug against the wall to avoid any more issues from the neighbour. I finish the daily blog.