A Koehler-Ruprecht Movie

Here's a little video from the Weingut Koehler-Ruprecht with yours truly narrating. Basically, I'm like Morgan Freeman in the March of the Penguins J Enjoy!

Any Vegetarians in Germany?

Now I’m not saying there aren’t any vegetarians in Germany. I’m just saying I haven’t met any and judging by the traditional German foods, they are few and far between. Let’s take my lunch for example. During harvest, Norbert, the chef from the hotel next door, Hotel Weinkastell Zum Weißen Roß, cooked our lunch. He’s a German born and German trained chef who is very well known in the area for his German cuisine. Every day we had some type of meat. Generally, the main components were good ole meat and potatoes and sometimes even the vegetables had bits of speck in them. And trust me, I’m not complaining. The food was delicious and I’m not a vegetarian nor would I ever be. I’m just making an observation J

Every Tuesday was charcuterie day and my least favorite day :(

The charcuterie included fleischwurst, leberwurst, blutwurst and pork head cheese. I didn't care much for the blutwurst and couldn't get past the texture of the head cheese. So I stuck with the fleischwurst and sometimes the leberwurst to make sandwiches. I got strange looks for not eating the meats the German way, by themselves, and answered, "What? I'm American!" At least it made them laugh J

The charcuterie was always served with pickles, boiled potatoes and mustard. I found it interesting that I got a strange look from everyone for not peeling my potato before eating it. I told them the skin holds all the nutrients and that my mom would be very upset with me if I skinned my potato. That seemed to nullify the strange looks a bit. 

Schweineschnitzel [aka pork schnitzel] and kartoffelsalat [aka potato salad], which was meiner lieblings! [aka my favorite!] Traditional German potato salad is served warm. And it's normal to be served with cucumbers. Usually, I don't like cucumbers because of their weird, watery texture [reminds me of waterchestnuts L] but since it was warmed they lost their crunch but added flavor. I'm definitely a fan!

Roast pork, red sauerkraut and kartoffelknödel with gravy. I thought they were potatoes until I got a closer look. A kartoffelknödel, and be sure to pronounce the second k, is basically a potato dumpling. It's very dense, very filling and very good! They aren't as easy to make as they might look. I tried making them on my own but they always turned out gooey. I'm on a mission to find the secret recipe.

This dish has no particular name that I know. Just pasta with a pork gravy. Pretty tasty!

On Norbert's Geburtstag he made us kasekuchen and a chocolate-mascarpone cake. Sehr gut!!!

Norbert's famous saumagen, which means pig stomach!

Saumagen with boiled potatoes and sauerkraut. Doesn't get more traditional than that!!!!

Did you notice a common theme besides meat and potatoes???? How about pork?! It's always pork. I see very little beef even on menus. If so, it's generally the most expensive item. It might be lacking vegetables but the German cuisine is packed with flavor and I thoroughly enjoy it...now where can I get a salad??? ;)

Ich liebe Deutschland!

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

Lucie, Andreas’ sister, picking in Saumagen 

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

And finally, the amber berries used to make the beautifully ripe Auslese

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] 

Ich liebe Deutschland!

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 ;)