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 ;) 

Goodbye Australia, Hello Germany!

So here's a fun fact...I'm moving to Germany! I'm working this upcoming in the Pfalz...I'm going to learn to make one of my favorite varietals...Riesling! And I'll be working for Koehler-Ruprecht. A lovely small winery that Market Restaurant 
used to carry on there wine list.

All my accommodations and meals are sorted and it sounds like an amazing learning experience but my future employer can explain it better than me. Below is his email: 

"We are a boutique winery with the size of 10,5 ha and a total production of maximum 80 tons, depending on the vintage. At Penfolds they probably do that in 2-4 hours, what we do in 6-8 weeks ;-)

Since the ownership changed three years ago, we are a fairly young and new team of a cellarmaster, a vineyard manager (who is not here in harvest), myself and a large group of Polish helpers plus Mr. Philippi, the old owner and now consultant. He is making wine all over the world.
To be honest with you, you would be the only intern. Reason: small winery and pretty efficient way of processing the grapes.

A regular harvest day is about 8-12 hours long, Sunday only about 6-8 hours. All depending on the weather and the picking decisions.
You would be with us on the crushpad, cleaning the press, crushing the grapes, draining the tanks into the barrels, fermentation control etc. Regular winery work, but not comparable to the new world wineries. It's a different world here.
Also, we would probably need you from time to time in the vineyards to pick the grapes. Here is our main focus on the quality. we go thru some vineyards up to five times and do different cluster selection, which we all proccess in different bins and barrels. Not that we wanna give you the "boring" job of picking, here is where you can learn our philosophy of the different Prädikat levels and wine qualities. 
The work here would be a fair mix of both, probably a bit more cellarwork, but at this stage all hard to tell, since decisions are usually made from day to day."


Doesn't sound boring to me at all. Call me crazy but I can't wait!


Oh and my future boss, Dominik Sona, owns his own small winery called Weingut Sona just 30 minutes away. So I will be able to help him with his vintage when I have time. Basically, I'll be busy :) Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday to Me!

No fireworks this year but I finally got to drink a wine from my birth year on my birthday! It was only appropriate to drink Australian wine for my first Australian birthday. 28 years old and still good...at least I like to think so :) What a great birthday gift...thank you Jason ;)

Soup Kitchen

I have a nice, cruisy life going for me in Margaret River. I get up around 7 am, go to the gym, get to work by 9:30 am, have a mellow day at work...usually, leave no later than 5 pm and have the whole evening to do what I want...like I said cruisy. And my favorite part about a cruisy life is I have time to volunteer...finally! With working, saving and traveling it's been difficult but I now have time to volunteer at Soup Kitchen :)

Every person, place and thing has a nickname in Australia and Soup Kitchen is no different. It is endearingly called Soupie!

Soupie just celebrated its 17th birthday -- 17 years of meals twice a week, 52 weeks a year. Relationships have been formed through Soupie and countless people fed with the help of volunteers and generous donations. 

Meet the crew

Doing work and making tasty food

Meet Dave Seegar, the creator of Soupie. He claims he is just a cook and by no means a chef.  He's a school bus driver during the day and enjoys playing his guitar at gigs on the weekends. He's one of the coolest people I've met in Margaret River...a very rad dude :)

Dave is still running the kitchen at the Margaret River Community Centre after setting it up with the aim of helping the homeless and hungry. We now feed 70 to more than 150 people at each sitting. A large variety of people with different backgrounds attend every Monday and Wednesday, from children in after school programs to entire families; from winemakers to backpackers, and everyone is welcome. Soupie is even mentioned in Lonely Planet's Guide of Margaret River. Job well done Dave!

Each night a fresh salad with a housemade dressing and spicy chili salsa is served as well as nine different 'stews' in rotation ranging from satay to Thai curry to dahl. In order to appeal to the masses, nothing is too spicy and every dish is vegan.

A $5 donation is requested but not mandatory in order to help buy the food each night. If the kitchen makes a profit it is used to donate to charities like Free the Bears Foundation, or for locals in need. 

The food is extremely tasty and healthy. I eat at Soupie every night I volunteer. Dave has done such a great job building an amazing service for the community and I thoroughly enjoy being a part of it. I look forward to it every Monday and Wednesday. I've met some really amazing people and of course some 'interesting characters' with wonderful stories about life, love, adventure and everything in between. I highly recommend checking it out if you make your way to Margaret River aka Margs ;)

Truffle Kerfuffle

Everyone has heard of the infamous Black Truffle but have you ever smelled or tasted one? How many different ways can truffles be used? Luckily, I got to find out this weekend at the Annual Truffle Kerfuffle in Manjimup. It's the Southern Forrest Food Festival and there was heaps to eat, drink and see!

The Black Truffle :)

Beautiful venue...

on a beautiful day!

Plenty of local wine and beer tasting. The standout of the day...Lillian. Made by John Brocksopp, one of the founding viticulturist of Leeuwin Estate, now makes Rhone varietals in Pemberton.

Free tasting of local organic cheese

The food was mouthwatering good! They had everything from free tastings of organic chocolate to flavored fudge to smoked meats to a 'cafeteria' like you've never seen before! The gourmet cafeteria had multiple stands where you could buy different truffle dishes. I wish I could have tried them all but I just didn't have enough room after the free tastings so I asked other people while they were eating to rate their dish and I picked the top 3. I may have embarrassed my friend but I'm serious about food...I probably should have worn stretch pants :)

Grilled marron with truffle aioli. I've never tried marron before so I went for it but this dish lacked flavor of any kind let alone that of truffle but the texture of the marron was good. I'll definitely try marron again just with a different preparation. 

Homemade truffle sausage

Soooo good...lots of flavor so the truffle was a bit difficult to distinguish. Definitely tasted earthy but I wonder if using mushroom would of had the same effect? Plus, there was a tomato jam on it that I could have eaten by the spoonful!

Truffle paella...the best dish and there was a long line to prove it.

And my favorite part of the day was a Masterclass with an Australian top chef! He demonstrated how to make a truffle infused dessert. Apparently, using truffle in a dessert is uncommon and difficult to do successfully.

Chef Shawn Sheather during the demonstration. He advised truffles can have a strong garlic smell and taste so be careful when picking your truffles for a dessert. Truffles are unique and all smell and taste different from one another.

Shawn's plating of the Truffle Infused Fig & Baby Pear on Toasted Brioche with Honey Mascarpone. Check out the Australian Good Food & Travel Guide for the recipe. The website also offers a 5 Course Truffle Dinner Menu with recipes.

Our baby bite size version to taste. Yes please and thank you! Tasted so good. I really enjoyed the honey mascarpone. I would have liked more on my bite size...I know, spoken like a true fat kid ;)

It was a perfect day!!!

Margaret River

I drove 3,000 kilometers from Barossa Valley to another popular wine region in Australia called Margaret River. It took me 5 days with all stops included. I drove across the Nullarbor, which is the longest straight road in Australia. That part was boring but luckily I had a friend to split the drive...thanks Blandine! She is a wonderful artist from Lyon, France I met on my travels and it was her first time driving on the opposite side of the road so that kept things interesting :) You should check out her website: www.blandine-mingret.com

Bunda Cliffs with Blandine

And it begins...

The Nullarbor...told you it was boring...

Frenchman Peak at Cape Le Grand National Park

View from Frenchman Peak

You know you're in Australia when there are kangaroos everywhere, even on the beach! Lucky Bay in Esperance

So now I'm living in Margaret River which is absolutely beautiful...the Indian Ocean is a site to see! Great surf but let's be honest, I wouldn't know...at least not yet :)

Mellow day

Raging surf

And I am the Restaurant Supervisor at Xanadu Winery! It's a lovely restaurant with a fabulously intricate and tasty menu which changes seasonally. We are currently on our Fall Menu but will be changing to Winter next month and I can't wait! All the restaurant employees come in on a Monday, the day we are closed, and taste the new menu and wines to get the perfect pairing. Check out our current Fall Menu below...yummy!!!

Smoked pork & apple cappelletti with sugar snaps, mint, fetta and crakle

Wild mushrooms with quinoa, butternut pumpkin, salted ricotta, sage and onion

Garlic & tarragon spatchcock with croquette, chickpea chips and celeriac remoulade

Confit duck leg with smoked duck breast, fig salad, orange braised witlof and quince vinaigrette

Grilled goldband snapper fillet with roasted pumpkin, spinach, laska sauce and coconut salad

Dessert plate, a taste selection [from left to right]:

Mandarin & almond cake with almond praline and olive oil ice cream

Poached pear with smoked vanilla cream, oat cookie and caramel ice cream

Milk chocolate tart with pistachio pesto and vanilla ricotta

And meet the boys who cooked it all...Tom and Dan aka Danjamin, just a funny nickname :)