Hello again! Sorry it's been so long but I have been busy with work and tastings…well, let’s be honest, more tasting than
work but then technically for me tasting is work J
I’m living in a small village called Kallstadt...isn't it beautiful?!
Anyways, it’s absolutely beautiful here! I love work and the
people I work with. My General Manager, Dominik, and Cellar master, Johannes, speak perfect English
and are always willing to answer my questions, which we all know I tend to have
many ;) The majority of the young, German population speak English well because
they learned it in school. But for the last two months, I've been working closely with a Polish
couple, Hela and Andreas, who don’t speak any English. We’d work in the
vineyards together, just the three of us, leaf thinning and it was very
interesting trying to communicate. Mainly, we used our hands and repetition of words. To my surprise, we learned to communicate pretty well and
with the help of my German-English dictionary, which was a great investment, I even
learned some German. Even Dominik was impressed
with how much I learned. I taught Hela and Andreas some English
too. Johannes thinks it’s funny that I speak English to them and
they speak German to me and somehow we understand each other perfectly.
Our Grosses Gewächs vineyard, Saumagen, which means 'pig stomach' in German. Weird name for a vineyard but it's the traditional cuisine for the region and surprisingly good!
During picking season, Koehler-Ruprecht employs extra help, 9 more
Polish people who are related to Hela and Andreas in different ways [sister, cousin,
nephew, etc.] and me! I thought my new German skills would come in handy,
however, the Polish schools teach Russian instead of German or English L
But they taught me how to say good morning [dzień dobry], thank you [dziękuję] and
you’re welcome [proszę] in
Polish. They tried teaching me some Russian too, but that was just getting out of
hand…my brain couldn’t keep up!
The picking crew but I like to call us the Trauben Mafia. Trauben was one of the first words I learned and means grapes in German. I think it has a nice ring to it J
Grauburgunder [aka Pinot Gris],
Weißburgunder [aka Pinot Blanc] and Gewürztraminer are the first to be picked because they ripen the fastest. Above is Gewürztraminer and my favorite grape to snack on in the vineyard...but I only ate a few, I promise ;)
Above is Grauburgunder and that's Andreas in the back driving the forklift
Next to be picked is Scheurebe, Chardonnay and Spätburgunder [aka Pinot Noir]. Above is Spätburgunder
Lastly, my favorite, Riesling. The Riesling is picked in
an order of it’s own according to the different Prädikat levels. We go through
each Riesling vineyard 3-4 times by the end of harvest.
First we cut out all the botrytis, which is used for blending and is the main component for the sweet style wines
The green grapes are picked first and are the base for the Kabinett wines
Then the golden berries, which make the delicious Spatlese
Picking was great! I got to see the sunrise everyday, was surrounded
by beautiful [schön] scenery and got to practice my German with Hela. It started getting pretty cold towards the end. At 0 degrees Celcius, I lost track of how many layers I was wearing but, even with the cold and rain, I liked going to work everyday. I got to work with great people and learn each and every day.
One of my many photos of the beautiful sunrise J
Teaching Derek how to drive the tractor...haha yeah right, it's obviously the other way around. Thanks Derek!
Call me optimistic but it's even beautiful when it rains...
And you get not just one but two rainbows [regenbogen]
P.S.
I linked the German and Polish words to Google Translate so
you can hear how they are pronounced. You try…and good luck ;)
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