January 19, 2015
Canal in Strasbourg
Strasbourg in autumn is very picturesque, and a great place to visit. I was lucky that I had to attend a conference and therefore had the chance to be there for a few days last year in early November.
I love this city and the wine region surrounding it: Alsace is one of my favourite French wine region. I especially love their whites, among them Riesling, Gewuerztraminer and Pinot Blanc and the Pinot Noir.
S’Thomas Stuebel
Since I was a day early for the event, I used the Sunday afternoon for a stroll to explore the town. I had visited before. Actually my first visit was when I attended high school (or as we call it Gymnasium). Since I was in the “French branch” of my school, we went quite frequently to various places in France. We stayed at a youth hostel. Our teacher made us try some of the local wines. It was here in Strasbourg that I tasted my first Gewuerztraminer.
I was eager to visit one of the famous wine bars. Unfortunately, the S’Thomas Stuebel was closed on Sundays. I promised to come back another day. Which I did.
The name plate at the entrance promised a truly indigenous dining experience. Something earthy, something traditional, something authentic with special dishes from the region and local wines.
The guest chamber of the wine bar
I was not to be disappointed when I cam back a few days later on the last day of my Strasbourg visit. Together with a colleague, we intended to explore the culinary delights of the Alsace wine region. We longed for simple, peasant type of food and nothing fancy.
A white wine served in an earthen flagon
Since my friend does not drink alcohol, a bottle was out of the question. Therefore, I ordered a 1/2 ltr. which was served in an earthen flagon. I selected a local Pinot Blanc.
The assorted Alsatian dishes
As you can see from the photo above, we went for very basic, nutritious and hearty local food. The potatoes with ham were wonderful. The cottage cheese with garlic and onions was creamy and rich. The salads contained all the garden greens typical for the season.
Crème brûlé
I am not a big fan of deserts, but the crème brûlé on the menue I was not willing to miss out on. I did not regret my choice. A fruit schnaps was used to make the crème brûlé, make it burn.
When we left, the taproom was filled with local diners. If you should visit Strasbourg you should not miss the S’Thomas Stuebel. Have dinner there and enjoy the local cuisine and the excellent selection of Alsatian wines.
2 Comments | 
culture, food, food and wine, wine, wine regions | Tagged: Alsace, France, Gewuerztraminer, Pinot Blanc, Riesling, S'Thomas Stuebel, Strasbourg, wine | 
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Posted by themanfrommoselriver
February 5, 2014
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 39,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 14 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Click here to see the complete report.
2 Comments | culture, food, food and wine, general, Restaurant Review, Vineyard profile, vineyards, wine, wine regions, wineries | Tagged: 2013 vintage, review, Riesling, The Man from Mosel River, Two Hills Vineyard, vintage, wine | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
October 29, 2013
The following wine tasting was a remarkable event which we utterly enjoyed. I do not include tasting notes here; we were not in the mood to write all that stuff down. We wanted to enjoy each others company and get on with the exploration of the wines.
The Oechsle wine house in Trier
The tasting facilities
Wine stored in the tasting room
The wine tasting costs about 15 EURO/Person and includes six wines. So what were the wines we had included in the tasting, you might ask?
They were as follows:
– 2011 Chardonnay by Sektgut Laurentius
– 2011 Elbling Classic Margarethenhof by Juergen Weber
– 2011 Riesling Spaetlese (old vines) by the Bremm winey
– 2011 Ayler Riesling by Peter Lauer
– 2011 Chardonnay by von Nell Estate in Kasel
– 2011 Kasler Kehrnagel (off dry) by Recihsgraf von Kesselstatt
and two red wines
– Rotweikoenigin (red wine queen) by Longen-Schloeder
– 2011 Pinot Noir by Chateau Edmond de la Fontain
You will have noticed that this in more than six wines. In fact the sommelier was so encouraged by our enthusiasm that he served us some selected drops.
Elbling, my new passion
Riesling from the Mosel
Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt, semi dry Riesling
The Mosel produces also excellent Pinot Noir wines
The jolly wine tasters: The Weber and Adam families
2 Comments | culture, food and wine, vineyards, wine, wine bars, wine regions, wineries | Tagged: Elbling, Mosel, Oechsle, Oechsle wine bar, Pinot Noir, Riesling, semi-dry, sommelier, Trier, wine, wine bars, wine tastings | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
September 30, 2013
The Fuerst Winery in Metzdorf
My day job does not leave me much times these days. However, as promised, I wanted to share with you some of my wine experience during the last summer vacation in Europe. Today I want to inform you about our visit of the “Hoffest”, a kind of open day with all kinds of program for the guests including food and wine of the Fuerst winery in Metzdorf, a small village on the banks of the Sauer river.
Elbling, one of the oldest vine varieties
The Fuerst family is know for their excellent Elbling wines. Elbling, a white grape, is one of the oldest grape varieties in Europe. It’s origins are not entirely clear. Some claim that the Romans brought the grape to Gallia and Germania, others say that is was an indigenous variety cultivated by Celtic communities long before the Romans arrived.
However that may be. It is very high in acidity, and therefore suitable for the production of sparkling. The total area under Elbling grapes has decreased over the years. Less than 600 ha are planted to Elbling grapes these days, most of it along the Mosel river. Luxembourg has about 120 ha of Elbling vineyards.
The wine is spritzy and fruity, in short a straight forward affair, a pleasant and down to earth experience. It should be drunk young.
It was a splendid day when the six of us visited on a Sunday morning. Unfortunately we had missed the breakfast and morning walk in the vineyards, which was offered as an culinary and educational experience for the guests.
Because everybody was in the vineyards, the seats and tables in the winery were rather empty when we arrived which left us with lost of choice. Just about 30 minutes later the place should fill up very quickly and we were lucky to have a comfortable place.
We were hungry. The photos below show the different dishes we ordered. Apart from various cold platters, even a simple sausage with fries could be ordered. The barbecue and grilled meat were the favourites with many guests.
I was eager to taste the Elbling wines. They should not disappoint me. There is nothing more refreshing on a hot summers day, I must say. The relatively low alcohol of the wine also helps.
Before we left I searched for the vintner; and the young wine-maker sold me a few bottles. I was amazed. Here you get value for your money. Please check out the price list of the Fuerst winery. You will find many pleasing offers.
The man from the Mosel with daughter Lucy
Concluding I will say that Elbling is an underrated grape variety but makes very pleasing wines. If you visit the Mosel river and its tributaries, please plan for an excursion along the Elbling wine route and visit some of the lesser known hamlets and villages and taste the wines of small family owned vineyards and wineries.
Leave a Comment » | culture, food, food and wine, wine, wine regions, wineries | Tagged: Elbling, German wine, Metzdorf, Mosel, Riesling, Trier, Weingut Fuerst, wine | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
August 13, 2013
The Mosel river near Trittenheim
In the picture above you will see the wine village of Leiwen (left). Further around the bend of the river (to the right) is the wine village of Trittenheim. This is basically the view of the Mosel you will get when you drive though the Hunsrueck mountains.
Trittenheim, Mosel
And this was also our first view of the Mosel when we arrived in Germany for our summer vacation this year. We were mesmerized. What a splendid view, what a splendid landscape, what a splendid river, how good to be home.
From the outset let me tell you we had a great time (only about 3 weeks), and despite our at best erratic planning and our lousy preparation, we were able to line up some unique, memorable and exquisite encounters with the wine and food world.
I intend to write in more detail about most of these encounters. But let me not be too optimistic as regards the time available for blogging.
So what were the highlights of our visit?
Well, we had the best pork-knuckle ever (!) after a two hour march through the forests near the Ammersee on our way to the monastery of Andechs, a famous location for catholic pilgrims. Bavaria is a fantastic place to visit especially if the weather gods are smiling on you, and smile they did. We had warm, at times even hot, weather during the whole time of our holidays.
Along the Mosel we visited three wineries – two along the Ruwer, one on the Sauer, both tributaries of the Mosel – and had one wine tasting in Trier city at Oechsle. Wonderful, exquisite, I can only rave about the many fresh and zesty wines we had the opportunity to sample.
The wineries we visited were:
– Fuerst Winery, Metzdorf, Sauer
– Karthaeuserhof Estate, Eitelsbach, Ruwer
– Maximin Gruenhaus C. von Schubert Winery-Estate, Mertesdorf, Ruwer
Another highlight was the visit of one of the best restaurants in the Alsace region of France. For a family lunch we went to the Auberge du Cheval Blanc in Lembach, Alsace near Wissembourg in the Vosges mountains.
Needless to say we spent many afternoon and evenings in wine bars and beer gardens, among them the wine bar Kesselstatt and the wine bar “Weinsinnig”, two of my favourite places to relax and enjoy a good glass of wine in Trier.
More soon. Stay tuned.
PS: I made some gorgeous pictures.
1 Comment | culture, food, food and wine, general, history and culture, vineyards, wine, wine regions, wineries | Tagged: Alsace, Ammersee, Andechs, Bavaria, food, France, French wine, German wine, Karthaeuserhof, Leiwen, Lembach, Maximin Gruenhaus, Mosel, restaurants, Riesling, Trittenheim, Vosges mountains, Weingut C. von Schubert, Weingut Fuerst, wine, Wissembourg | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
June 17, 2013
2011 Selbach Riesling Classic
Recently, the supply with German Riesling wines in Bangkok has improved considerably. A fine specimen is the ‘2011 Selbach Riesling Classic’ by the Selbach Winery in Zeltingen, Mosel.
The family enterprise has vineyards in Zeltingen, Wehlen, Graach and Bernkastel and is currently working 20 ha of vines, many of them in very steep locations along the Mosel river. 98% of the area is under Riesling, the rest is planted to Pinot Blanc. As is customary with many German wine producers, the Selbach Riesling assortment includes dry, semi-dry and sweet wines, plus late harvest and ice wine.
In Bangkok only the classic dry Riesling variety from the Selbach winery is available (88 Parker Points). In order to get your hands on terroir specific and single vineyard wines you might have to identify a specific importer. Although ever since the new It’s Riesling initiative has started operating, one has a much better chance as a consumer to find more exotic Riesling wines of the highest quality.
The Selbach Riesling Classic shows all the qualities of a good German Riesling. It is not bone dry, has a good acidity and citrus notes. Riesling is a perfect compliment with Asian cuisine, especially Thai and Chinese food. I paired it with the shrimps (in the picture above) and some spicy chicken (as in the picture below) and it worked very well.
Chicken on my Weber grill
1 Comment | food, food and wine, vineyards, wine, wine regions, wineries | Tagged: asian cuisine, Bernkastel, German Riesling, German wine, Graach, It's Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Riesling wines, Selbach-Oster Winery, sweet wines, Wehlen, wine, wine producers, Zeltingen | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
April 19, 2013
It’s Riesling – cover website
As a lover of Riesling wines, I am always on the lookout for new initiatves promoting my favourite white wine grape. The other day I came across the facebook page of It’s Riesling.
I assume they are working from Thailand but I am not entirely sure about this. However, many of the pictures they posted on facebook show scenes and people from Bangkok. Also the telephone number seems to be a local one.
The motto of It’s Riesling is: “Wine is our passion; Riesling is our life”. I sincerely hope that this is true. Then I will have access to top German Riesling wines which would be fantastic.
They have some interesting wines on offer. I will keep you informed about my progress.
Leave a Comment » | general, wine, wine bars, wine regions, wineries | Tagged: Bangkok, German Riesling, German wines, It's Riesling, Mosel, Riesling, Riesling wines, Thailand, white wine, wine | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
April 17, 2013
Cheers at Renmin University
The other day, when I took a stroll from the Friendship Hotel in Beijing where I stayed during my recent visit, I came also across the Cheers wine shop at Renmin University (People’s University). I knew this shop from earlier visits, and was curious to know what it had on offer.
I was surprised to find even a few wines from Germany: Two off-dry Riesling wines from my native Mosel and a Pinot Noir from the Pfalz.
2011 Peter & Peter Pinot Noir by Zimmermann-Graeff & Müller
I had never before heard about the “Peter & Peter” brand but could not resist to buy and later try this wine. I did not regret it. After my return from a business dinner with lovely Chinese food but without table wine, I opened the Pinot Noir and enjoyed it as a night cap.
Zimmermann-Graeff & Müller is a wine company in Zell, Mosel with about 300 employees and vineyards and wineries in the Mosel and Pfalz wine regions.
Jancis Robinson awarded this wine a 15 out of 20 points. The sales price varies. I found websites where you could order it for 8 to 10 EURO/bottle; in Canada it is available for about 19-20 C$.
Before taxes one can have it in Thailand for 356 Bath. But remember that the luxury tax in Thailand is considerable (400%).
For me it was great to enjoy this fine specimen of German wine so far away from my native land.
2 Comments | vineyards, wine, wine regions, wineries | Tagged: Beijing, Cheers, China, Friendship Hotel Beijing, Mosel, People's University, Peter & Peter, Pfalz, Pinot Noir, Renmin University, Riesling, wine, Zimmermann-Graeff & Müller | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
March 8, 2013
Lucy and Charlotte Adam
Today is international women’s day. It is a very special day especially since exactly 25 years ago I have met my wife Margit for the first time (in an Italian language class in Rome). So we are celebrating today, and I will tell you what wine we will drink at this special occasion.
But before I come to this, let me also say that the next generation is getting ready. My two daughters Lucy and Charlotte are in the middle of their preparations for the IB examinations. They have big plans. Both want to study at Melbourne University.
At this, I admit, very preliminary point, both will have some connection with the land and country, it seems. Lucy intends to do an oenology course (but she will study politics), and Charlotte wants to get involved into environmental science for sustainable agriculture. If they stay course, we might welcome two new vintners at Two Hills Vineyard.
This is of course the future calling, but the two have not disappointed at no time.
By the way, my role has also been defined in advance: farm hand, is my destination.
OK back to the present. What will we be drinking tonight? Can you guess?
It will be a ‘2012 Maximin Grünhäuser Riesling trocken’ by Schlosskellerei Maximin Grünhaus C. von Schubert in Mertesdorf, Ruwer. I have written an entry of the earlier vintage of this wonderful wine from my beloved Mosel river.
PS: Thanks to another “Man from the Mosel”, my friend Thomas Weber, I am in the possession of the above bottle. Thank you Thomas for carrying this treasure more than 10,000 miles to the other end of the earth.
4 Comments | culture, general, Vineyard profile, vineyards, wine, wine regions, wineries | Tagged: Australia, Charlotte Adam, climate, Glenburn, Lucy Adam, Maximin Grünhäuser, Melbourne, Mertesdorf, Mosel, Mosel river, nature, Riesling, Ruwer, Schlosskellerei Maximin Grünhaus C. von Schubert, Two Hills Vineyard, Victoria | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
February 11, 2013
After a couple of weeks without a Riesling from my beloved Mosel, I came across a bottle of ‘2011 Goldtroepfchen Gran Crue’ by Weingut Lothar Kettner in Piesport, Mosel.
I had no idea where the bottle came from. I must have bought it in Bangkok, I thought. But right when I opened it, I knew it was what I needed to celebrate the New Years eve of the Chinese Year of the Snake, the spring festival, as it is also called.
The golden colour is intriguing. The aromas are infatuating. Green apples and white stone fruit came to mind. A Riesling from the Mosel, a wine I adore. What wine would be better to prelude the New Year?
Faith – Love – Hope is the motto of the family winery Weingut Lothar Kettern in Piesport, Mosel. This is represented by the three symbols in the logo of the winery: the cross, the heart and the anchor. The vintner tradition runs in the family for about 200 years. The son of Lothar, Philipp Kettern, also know as ‘the wine pirate’ is now running the estate.
The Kettern family only grows Riesling grapes. Steep slopes, with cooler climate, are the preferred vineyard locations, so that vintage is late. Low yields, perfection regarding leave removal and environment friendly techniques are the key to success. The wines are hand crafted in the true sense of the word.
I will have to see that with my own eyes, next time I visit my beloved Mosel.
12 Comments | culture, history and culture, vineyards, wine, wine regions, wineries | Tagged: Goldtroepfchen, grand cru, Lothar Kettern, Mosel, Philipp Kettern, Piesport, Riesling, Weingut Lothar Kettern | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
The Man from Mosel River 