June 2, 2016 - A Visual Feast

Hi, everybody, gut-en mor-gen, and welcome back to Cépage et Cuisine, Frau Mary’s and Brian’s blog about wine, food, culture, and geography.  Today, we transferred from Trier to Bernkastel, our fourth and final vacation destination.  Since Bernkastel is so close, about 45 minutes on the main road and an hour-and-a-half on the backroads, we were in no rush to be on our way.  I walked up the hill to the bakery to get Frau Mary her nougatplunder for breakfast.

It is basically a glazed pastry with a light drizzle of chocolate and a little chocolate inside, but not like a pudding.  It’s more like a croissant on the inside.

For years I have read about the Mosel Valley, tasted its wines, even conducted tasting events in our home and the homes of others to learn and help others learn about the wines.  Of course, I’ve seen the photos and videos, but none of that really prepared us for what we saw when we came over a forested mountain above Trittenheim.  There, the Mosel makes a turn with Trittenheim on one side and Leiwen on the other.  Have a look at this video.

I think it must be said that the Mosel and the villages and vineyards along its winding route are a visual feast, stunning in the impression they convey.  We were both thrilled by the view.

In the early afternoon sun, you can see in this photo exactly how west-facing vineyards get more light and, therefore, have better ripening potential.

Here’s another look at Trittenheim as we descended the hillside.

This is Leiwen around the bend in the river.

Our first impression of the vineyards across the river is how steep they are.

The vines and rows are practically dripping off the rocks and hillsides.

The church in Trittenheim is architecturally typical of the style we’re seeing as we drive along in the Mosel.

Trittenheim was a convenient stop for lunch at the Weinstube Restaurant.

The daily special was chili con carne over rice with a salad.  It’s not exactly German regional food, but it really hit a familiar food spot.

We enjoyed it with a local roséwein, a rosé of Pinot Noir.

As we drove the last 25 kilometers to Bernkastel, I felt I had to pull over every few feet to take another photo.  The vineyards and hillsides are just so beautiful.

This photo is an unintentional selfie.  You see me in the mirror, leaning out of my window to snap another photo.

This is the approach to the village of Minheim.

This is the view across the river to the vineyards above Wintrich.

Every small village has at least one hotel that looks something like this, often right on the water, often with a restaurant.

This is Schloss Leiser in the town of Lieser.  “Schloss” is translated to English as a castle, manor, or mansion.

The castle was built around 1884.  Here’s a little history about the castle, conveniently in English.

Here are some views down the main street of Lieser.

We arrived in Bernkastel and noticed the height of the Mosel.  It was creeping onto the banks and covering a bike path and some parking places.  There has been a lot of rain during our trip as you may have noticed in earlier blog posts.  Some cities, including Paris, have experienced significant flooding.

The ruins of an old castle, the Burg Landshut, loom above the town on a hilltop.

We went to dinner in the old town of Bernkastel.  Sure enough, there are markings on the sides of buildings to indicate past floods of the river.  The December 1993 was a big one, well above Frau Mary’s head.

We went to a casual place, the Café Thiesen and had the regional specialty dish, again ...

... which is smoked pork loin with mixed mashed potatoes and sauerkraut.  The menu item is kasseler mit gräwes.  It tasted fine, but it is quite heavy.  Back in Mississippi, this would require a “go box.”

I also tried this soup, called linsensuppe mit würstchen, a lentil soup with sliced sausage, and really liked it.

The wine was this Joh. Jos. Ehlen Riesling Bernkasteler Lay 2012 in the dry style, called trocken.  Kabinett means the grapes were picked at the first and lowest level of ripeness.  The next higher level is spätlese, sometimes called late harvest, then auslese, which is like a dessert wine, then the real dessert wines, beerenauslese and trockenbeerenauslese.  I’ll talk about these levels in a later post.

The wine was fine, not remarkable, but very enjoyable, in part because the grapes were grown within a few hundred meters of the restaurant.  It did have good freshness with citrus and tree fruit flavor notes.  It also serves an example of the rule of what grows together goes together.  It paired nicely with the pork loin and the strong flavors of the sauerkraut.

Mary passed on the apple strudel.  The restaurant was cozy and the food hearty on a chilly, drizzly evening.  We were glad to head on back to our apartment and get settled.

That’s our post for today.  We hope you liked it.  Thanks for reading us at Cépage et Cuisine.  Tomorrow we begin our exploration of the area and tasting great Riesling.  Check back for more posts.  In the meantime,

Prost! (see how much German Frau Mary is teaching me already?)

Mary♥Brian