Hi, everybody, and
welcome again to Cépage et Cuisine, Mary’s and
Brian’s blog about wine, food, people, and places. Today was a sunny and warm day in the Mosel, a welcome
respite from all the rain. Here’s the
little bakery where I’ve been going every morning for Frau Mary. It’s called a Stehcafé, which translates to stand, as in a coffee stand.
In
addition to the pastries, they have coffee to go in a size that Americans like,
which is to say it’s bigger than a Dixie Cup.
It’s also a neighborhood gathering spot where the “chronologically-advanced”
men meet to drink coffee and talk about whatever.
Our tasting appointment
for the day was at Dr. H. Thanisch in Bernkastel.
The family home is right
on the Mosel.
Here’s a view across the
river from their driveway.
The estate dates back 11
generations, the most recent four generations being women and the next
generation also a woman. An ancestor
held a doctoral degree, which seems to be fairly common among German wine
estates. The language on the sign that
includes the term erben translates to
the English word “inherited,” which means the estate is now owned by an heir to
Dr. Thanisch.
Our host for the visit
was Monika, another name we’ve encountered now at least twice, like Isabelle in
France.
Like other estates,
Thanisch produces a large variety of Riesling from many vineyard sites in trocken (dry), feinherb (off-dry), and sweet styles.
A common misconception,
especially among Americans, is that all German wines are sweet, which is not at
all the case. In fact, the dry style and
the off-dry feinherb style are more
popular among Germans than the sweet version.
Mary and I especially enjoy the feinherb
because that little bit of residual sweetness really enhances the fruit
characteristics of the Riesling. Think
about a tart cherry or strawberry. If
you pop a fresh cherry into your mouth, it has vivid fruit character, but if
you sprinkle a little sugar or sweetener on it, then the fruit character is
even more intense.
Ok, we’re up to day 18 of
the adventure, so I suggested to Mary that we have an easy lunch at the Stehcafé.
Here’s what she ordered, which went straight
to a blissful happy American place. To
be fair, Frau Mary says hamburgers actually originated in Germany in the city
of Hamburg, but this photo sure looks classically American doesn’t it? Except for one thing ... Bitte ein Bit.
We had no scheduled
appointments for the afternoon so we found the road up to the top of the
mountain to see the Landshut Castle. As
you can see there is a restoration project under way.
The castle has an
interesting history, dating back at least to the 13th century. It was occupied by the Archbishop of Trier, a
man named Boemund II. It was Boemund who
supposedly had a grave illness that was not relieved by his physicians but was
cured when he drank wine from the nearby vineyard. He was so pleased that he gifted the vineyard
to the grower and it has since been known as the Doctor vineyard.
Here’s a view of
Bernkastel from Landshut Castle. On the
right side of the river, just north of Bernkastel, you can see the village of
Graach. A bit farther along, around the bend, is the
Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyard. And way off
in the distance, you can see the Hochmoselbrücke
under construction. This photo is also a
good example of why the vineyards are planted where they are. The photo was made around 2:00 in the
afternoon and you can see the vineyards are facing the sun to the west so they
catch the warmest exposure for optimal ripening.
In this photo we’re
actually about halfway up the Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyard, looking in the direction opposite the previous picture. For someone like me who’s into wine, this is quite
a thrill.
The steepness of the
vineyards is amazing. As steep as they
obviously are in these photos, it’s hard to convey in pictures what they are really like.
There was a crew at work
that day.
We were able to drive up
there on a narrow road for vineyard workers, hoping we could stay out of the workers’
way. I’m standing behind a guardrail to
give you another sense of the steep grade.
Here’s a good example of
the blue slate that is everywhere in the vineyard and thought to be an important
feature that influences the wine. Aside
from the slate soil, the rocks get warm from the sun during the day and radiate
their heat at night to help ripening.
This is a view from
Wehlener Sonnenuhr across the Mosel to the town of Wehlen. We visited the church and described it in photos from a blog post a few days ago.
Taken from about the same
place as the previous photo, this view shows the neighboring village of Graach
and the west-facing Domprobst vineyard behind the village.
Today was quite warm for
a change, so we went back to the cool apartment and invited our very friendly
host, Allyson Botzet-Rendell to join us in the shade for a quaff. Allyson lives on the third level of the
apartment, right above us. We enjoyed getting better acquainted with her and sharing news about our trip, our family, children and
grandchildren. By good fortune, we also
got to chat with one of her boys as he returned from school.
The house is hundreds of
years old and has a cool cellar with historical significance. Allyson says the house was known as a “tithe”
house for Bernkastel where wine collected by the Archbishop as a tax was
stored.
Another fascinating item of
history is that a family took shelter in the cellar during part of World War
II. In this photo, Allyson is pointing
to the fireplace in the corner that the occupants used for heat and cooking.
There is a natural spring
that comes up in the cellar which Allyson says is very pure.
Later on, dinner was in
Mülheim, a village just minutes from Bernkastel, at a hotel and restaurant
called the Weisser Bär, which translates to White Bear.
Mary was delighted by the
beauty of the place, right on the Mosel, with a view across the river to Lieser. You can see the castle, Schloss Lieser,
through the trees. You can also see the
river is high enough to cover the bike path.
Here’s another beautiful view
from our table on the terrace.
Here’s a refreshing first
course of tomato and mozzarella.
And a nice, simple, light,
roasted sole for Mary.
Another roasted lake
trout for me.
The wine was a splendid Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer (pronounced Yoo-fer) 2014. It was a feinherb that had just enough
residual sweetness to enhance the fruit and richness of the wine. Aromatic of flowers, citrus, and tree fruit,
the palate showed refreshing acidity, crispness, a nice mineral note, and peach
and lime. The €35 price is much lower
than we pay in U.S. restaurants for comparable wine.
That’s our post for
today. It was a lovely, lovely day, just
exploring this beautiful wine region.
The Weisser Bär was a relaxing end to the day.
Thanks for reading us at Cépage et
Cuisine. We still have a
couple of days before we head home, so keep checking back for more posts. In the meantime,
Cheers!
Mary♥Brian
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