Merano Wine Festival 2012

The Merano Wine Festival is an annual tasting event of the finest Italian and international wines. It a tasting event like no other and the best I have ever attended! Over 400 wineries from Italy and more than 120 international producers from across the world were selected to participate. In addition, there is a Beer Passion section where you can taste handcrafted Italian beers as well as a Culinary Area showcasing some the best local ingredients.

The Festival is an amazing opportunity 'to take a trip around the world with your wine glass'. You have the chance to speak to winemakers, taste historic Italian vintages and acquaint yourself with up-and-coming winemakers. There is even an option to attend private tastings for an extra fee. A three day pass will set you back 160 Euros but I think you will agree it's money well spent!

The Kursaal Hall

J. Hofstatter, one of the many famous producers available to taste

An amazing Falanghina from Donna Laura with great complexity

After a long day of wine tasting it was time for a beer so I headed to the Beer Passion area and this chef handed one right to me as I walked in and insisted on a photo...haha oh, the Italians! J

Cittavecchia, where have you been all my life?! My favorite Italian beer!!! It didn't hurt that the brewer was extremely nice and spoke perfect English as well as German and Italian...a man of many talents!

Pavillon Des Fleurs was an entire room dedicated to Bordeaux and Chateau Leoville Barton was one of many being poured

And what's a room of Bordeaux without a little Sauternes?!

Feudi di San Gregorio is known for their elegant and traditional Italian wines. Serpico is 100% Aglianico and is a deep, powerful, concentrated wine with impeccable balance and great aging potential. And the photo below the bottle is not a tree but actually one of their ancient vines.

Vietti is one of the top Piemonte producers

Nebbiolo is the red grape varietal used in Pio Cesare's world class Barolo and Barbaresco

Fattoria Poggio Gagliardo was one of the few producers who were kind enough to serve from a decanter, which is much needed with these young and powerful Italian wines. After a couple of hours to breathe, these were some of the finest we tasted with elegance and precision.

Please don't judge our wine teeth to harshly. We had a long yet impressive day of Barolo tasting J

And what's an Italian wine tasting without a little Italian pick me up?

There were many international wineries present. Simcic was one of the many and are know for their traditional Rebula

Bodren is a Croatian winery who specializes in ice wine

Monday, the last day of the festival, was vintage tasting day! Many of the producers opened vintage selections according to a predetermined schedule for everyone who was still there to enjoy. This wine lived to see the next century!!!

You want some cheese with that wine? The culinary section was filled with all types of food you could sample from cheese to homemade olives to truffles. Needless to say, I spent a good amount of time there J

And if all this wasn't enough to convince you how absolutely amazing this festival is, check out the beautiful town of Merano. Now I gotcha!

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??? ;)