It’s beautiful to drive along the Mosel river, even in the month of November. I had this opportunity last year and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Mosel wine route (Mosel Weinstrasse) is a fine example of a scenic drive along the vineyards and wine villages in this part of Germany which I still call home.
The winding Mosel with the slopes covered in vineyards
Steep slopes promise hard work and exquisite wines
Vines on blue slate soils
Blue slate ideal for Riesling grapes
Every individual vine got one stake
Low lying vineyards at the river bank
As many as you like
Famous terroir: Poelicher Held
Famous terroir: Kluesserather Bruderschaft
The Roman wine route
The country I come from is just beautiful. Visit the Mosel and remember the Romans did this too about 2000 years ago. Spring (and Mosel Riesling) is waiting for you.
Welcome to Firenze. The photo above shows the Basilica di S. Croce in the side street to the left of which you will bump into a wine bar and restaurant called “Baldovino”.
The counter of Enoteca Baldovino
The inside of Enoteca Baldovino
Food and wine sideboard
The No. 5 “must see place” on Giuseppe’s Firenze map was Baldovino, a ristorante/pizzeria with a wine bar (an enoteca) next to it. We patronized the “enoteca” to have a glass of wine. It was a late afternoon with a blue sky and beautiful sunshine.
The waiter was very friendly and made us feel at home immediately. We ordered a bottle of white. It was hot and white wine seemed the right stuff to get ready for another splendid evening in Florence.
Enoteca Baldovino is a very lovely place to hang out on a warm evening. If you are hungry you can just walk over to the restaurant Baldovino next door. One can also sit outside in the piazza and watch the passers by on their evening “passagiata”.
An interesting wine cooler
‘2009 La Segreta Bianco’ by Planeta, Sicilia
We ordered a bottle of ‘2009 La Segreta Bianco’ by Planeta, Sicilia. This is an easy drinking blend of various grape varieties but with the bulk coming from the Grecianico grape.
The back label
Happy customers
Address: Enoteca Baldovino
Via S. Giuseppe 22 e
Florence, Italy
While working at FAO and living in Rome at the end of the 1980ies, our main restaurant was Taverna Cestia, near Piramide, just a couple of blocks from the United Nations. We went often and all the waiters knew us very well. Usually that meant that we did not have to look at the menu (they knew what we liked to eat), and if we stayed longer than the opening hours permitted, we were somehow accommodated (usually the offering of burning ‘Sambuca’ signaled that it was time to go home).
So it was clear that when in Rome, we would go and eat there. And that’s what we did during our summer vacation 2010 as well. It was a very hot day. We had shown our daughters the Terme di Caracalla. We were thirsty and needed refreshment. ‘Melon with prosciutto’ and ‘bruschetta di pomodori’ are just the right stuff to start a meal.
Ham and melon
Tomatoes on grilled bread
Olives in a coat
Taverna Cestia is famous for it’s ‘spaghetti alle vongole’, but I always liked also the ‘penne al arrabiata’.
Penne al ragu
Spaghetti alle vongole
In the past we always ordered a liter of house wine, usually a white wine in summer (a refreshing Frascati) and a red one in winter. Also this time we had a bottle of this divine liquid. We did not regret our choice.
Frascati wine by Casalgentile
The back label of the Frascati by Casalgentile
That the food at Taverna Cestia is very good is proven by the next picture. Tripadvisor awards four out of five stars.
Address: Taverna Cestia Di Salvi Gioacchino C.
Viale della Piramide Cestia, 67
00153 Roma, Italia
Tel.: +39-6-5743754
Subway: Piramide
From the outset I have to admit that our supermarket had only sea-bass on offer and instead of caviar we had to be content with ordinary fish roe. Indeed, Francine remarks that the original recipe was based on roe, not caviar, which was not well understood in Shakespearean times.
Ingredients:
– 4 small red snapper or trout with head on
– 1/4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
– salt and freshly milled black pepper
– 12 dates, minced
– 1/4 cup finely grated fresh ginger (cam from my own production on my terrace garden)
– 8 ounces of caviar or roe
– 8 ounces fresh red currant or barberries
– 1 table spoon sugar
– 2 table spoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
How it’s done:
– Preheat the grill, brush the fish inside and outside with the olive oil, season with salt and pepper, combine the dates with the ginger and gently fold into the caviar/roe, spoon the mixture into the cavity of the fish, grill of about 405 minutes on each side until the flesh is firm
– Place currant, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan, simmer for about 10 minutes until thickened, puree until smooth
– Place the fish on a plate and serve the sauce in a small dish next to it. Finished. Enjoy.
And this is what the dish may look like:
Sea-bass
Beautiful roe
The side dishes came also from the same cooking book. They were sweat onions (six different kinds of onions) and artichokes in vinegar with herbs.
The sweat onions
Artichokes
The wine we had with the food was not Shakespearean. Instead, we had a very simple wine with it, a ‘Frascati superiore’ from Rione. Ever since we lived in Rome about 20 years ago, I love the young white wines from Frascati,especially on hot days, the wines are refreshing and uplifting. It was a good complement to the “heavy” Shakespearean food.
It was a gorgeous day when I drove from my home town Trier at the Mosel to the airport in Frankfurt. I passed through the hilly country called the “Hunsrueck”, a large plateau with deep forests and not-to-infertile plains where grains, maize and rape seed are grown. After a couple of kilometres clouds appeared and it started to rain.
The yellow of the rape seed fields contrasted beautifully with the surrounding green of the grains, the grass and the trees. From the moving car I took a couple of shots to capture the contrast. Reality is almost always more beautiful than those quick digital camera shots.
I had about two hours for contemplating about life, death and the universe. I love these rare occasions of introspection. I love the short life between the worlds, leaving Germany for the tropics of Thailand. Having left a world behind but not reached the desired destination, leaves me in a kind of vacuum, an emptiness full with feelings.
The last leg of my journey led me through parts of the Nahe and the Rheingau wine regions. At this time of the year the vines appear tender and soft, near the flowering stage maybe, but the green of the leaves is still a light green.
The rainy season would wait for me on the other side of the world. Only the long hours in the narrow plane would be between “me in Germany” and “me in Thailand”, the past and the future, the wines of Germany and the wines of Australia and Thailand of course.
For some time now our vintners and wine producers association has had a website, but it was work in progress and filled up only step by step. Now the webpage of the Upper Goulburn Winegrowers Association is completed and fully functional. I would like to invite you to check it out.
I am very proud of this new piece of public relations and education. First of all I like the front page with its romantic touch. The subdued colours give it the historical foundation and substance which a new kid on the block usually seems to lack.
It’s typical Australian too since it tell stories, many different ones of the wineries and the other members of our organisation, the grape growers and the ones who do not have a cellar door.
It tells us stories about the region, it’s soils, the climate, the grape varieties, the history and what one can do their in term of leisure and tourist activities. It carries useful information such as maps, news and events. It also features a “wine of the month” where one of the many excellent wines are presented to the public.
Come and visit us, first on the internet and then jump into your car and drive out to the High Country and meet the friendly vintners of the Upper Goulburn Winegrowers Association. See you soon.
I arrived from Bangkok on a bleak and cold morning in the middle of March. Three degrees Celsius but dry conditions, is what the pilot predicted. Well, what a chilly morning here in Frankfurt. Where was spring, I thought.
Nahe vineyards in March
I decided against the train, rented a car and drove off to the West. When passing the city of Mainz, I decided to go along the Nahe river, the birthplace of my father. It’s a lovely place. The Nahe is a little know German wine region. I will write a separate blog entry to tell you more about this jewel of a wine region. The Nahe region is very deer to me.
I passed the town of Bad Kreuznach but stopped in Bad Sobernheim. There a strolled through the small town just to move my legs little. It was 7 h in the morning, people were on their way to work. I was greeted by all the people I walked past. That’s the charm of those little German places.
Martinstein, river Nahe and vineyards in the back
I spent almost all my childhood holidays in the house of my grandfather in a small hamlet called Martinstein. Here the last vineyards are to be found. Further West are only rocks and forests. I paused and paid a visit to my grandparents grave. When overlooking the surrounding hills vivid memories of my youth danced before my inner eye. I remembered that my grandmother took me to fetch the milk and that I could never get enough from watching the cows and that I had to be taken by force to come home. I also remember rides on horse carts and later the first tractors.
The city of Kirn
My last stop was in Kirn, a small city and the birthplace of my father. This is a beer drinkers place since the famous Kirner Pils is (or was?) brewed here. I went to Dhauner Strasse to see the house were my father was born and where he grew up. From the castle, the Kyrburg, I took a good look around before heading through the mountains (where I found a lot of snow) to the Trier and the Mosel Valley.
I found on the internet a very different version of the Robert Burns song “Auld Lang Syne”. It is from a German rock band called: “Die Toten Hosen” which translates into English as: “the dead trousers”.
Enjoy. Cheers
PS: Any type of wine can be paired with this song. Even non-wine alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks might do.
Robert Burns, the portrait at the entrance of the hall
About 100 diners, mostly Scots and their friends, had gathered in the Amari Watergate Hotel in Bangkok to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, Scotlands national bard and its most famous poet. Every year thousands of Scots people worldwide celebrate the life of this great man. This year’s 250th celebration was of course very special.
That was also true in Thailand. The Bangkok St. Andrew’s Society and its chieftain, John McTaggert, had invited to an evening of celebration, and a celebration it was. Our friend Rab Thomas had gathered a group of friends and we were the lucky ones to join in.
“250 years in ice”
The members of the Bangkok St. Andrew’s Society had ample opportunity to show their talents. At past Burn’s Suppers in Jakarta, a Robert Burns impersonator was invited. Though his presentation of the poems and hymns was very professional, it somehow deterred the members of the local society to take the recitations on to themselves.
Mike Brooks did the piping
There is obviously no shortage of talent in Bangkok. The Selkirk Grace was spoken by Willie Christie. When the haggis was presented and stirred, Mike Brooks spoke the address to the haggis. Duncan Niven gave ‘the Immortal Memory’, John McTaggert the ‘toast to the Lassies’, and Louise Blackwood ‘the Lassies Response’. All the speeches were presented in a very witty, pithy, funny, sardonic and enthusiastic way. It was such a pleasure to listen to them.
Also the haggis with tatties and neeps was very good. I enjoyed again the wonderful Scottish cheeses. The wine came from Australia and was quite decent. It belonged to the, what I call, “industrial wine” category. There is no harm in drinking it, just the brand name never sticks.
After dinner we went all outside to bid farewell to the British Ambassador, made a circle, held hands and sang together “Auld Lang Syne” („old long since“). I recognized the song immediately, because its German version (“Nehmt Abschied Brueder”/ farewell brothers) is very well known in my native lands.
I vividly remember when as a boy I first heard the song from our kitchen window. A group of pilgrims had gathered in front of our house in a circle and sang “farewell brothers”, before boarding their buses to take them home.
When we held hands in Bangkok and sang Burn’s song, the magic also worked on us. It is a powerful song, even in German, though the German text is quite different from the English or the Scottish version. What I did not know is that the song was written by Robert Burns. In life learning never ends.
When Robert Burns died at the tender age of 37 in 1796 he left behind 13 children from 5 women. That’s quite an achievement. Obviously Burns loved women and ‘love’ was one of his favourite themes. This is why I present to you Eddie Reader and her version of “My love is like a red red rose”.
Cheers to Robert Burns. See you next year at the Burn’s Supper.
I will have to jump a bit regarding the time line. There is so much to write about. Some of it happened in 2008 but I still want so let you know. The live music with Geoff Achison took place on December 18th I think.
Fortunately, it did not rain. We had been unloading containers the whole day and furniture and other stuff was all over the place. It was hard work and we were very much looking forward to the evening.
It was just my second evening in Australia. It should become a memorable event. Michael, my brother-in-law, had booked a table for a dinner with a music performance by Geoff Achison, a famous blues guitar player, at the Grand Hotel in Yarra Glen.
The girls had a bottle of ‘2005 Yering Station Cabernet Sauvignon’, a very nice wine from the oldest vineyard in Victoria (founded in 1838 ) which is just around the corner from Yarra Glen.
When I went to the bar, I discovered that they had a German beer on tap and could not resist (I was also the driver) to order a Beck’s. The food was solid and we enjoyed the atmosphere.
The Grand was packed with people, young and old to listen to the “legend”: Geoff Achison. He did not disappoint us.
Geoff had to give a few encores before the crowd allowed him to take a rest. Before departing I bought two of his CD’s and had a nice chat with him.
Michael had introduced me to his music years ago but so far there was no opportunity to see him live. His voice, is the voice of a black man and his virtuosity on the guitar is just amazing. Check out his webpage: www.geoffachison.com but Geoff is also on facebook and has a fan website. I love his music, especially the old blues pieces.
This pleasurable evening should be an auspicious start to my holidays in Australia, I thought. Thank you Geoff and cheers folks to four eventful weeks in the country.
Posted by themanfrommoselriver 
The Man from Mosel River 