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!

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!

Oma's Bretzels!

Have I mentioned I love Germany?! There are so many things to enjoy here and I’m especially enjoying the German culture and food. I’m even learning to cook some of the German ‘staples’ from oma herself. Oma means grandmother in German. My friend is working at another winery in the Pfalz and living with the family's oma. This woman is amazing! Not only does she cook every meal for him, she also does his laundry, makes his bed and bakes goodies, bretzels being one of them and one of my favorites! I told him he needs to propose before I do ;)

Thanks to my broken German skills and trusty English-German dictionary, I learned how to ask Oma Marianne to teach me to make bretzels in German because she doesn’t speak a word of English. So last weekend, the lovely oma taught me how to make real German bretzels! [There is no mistake in spelling, bretzels is the German spelling for pretzels and don’t ask me why]

And below is oma's recipe...

First you start with 1000 grams of flour, 2 spoons of salt, 2 spoons of sugar and a dash of muskatnuss, which I later found out is nutmeg…thank you Google Translate!

In a separate pot, stir in a tab of yeast into a ½ liter of warm milk. Then mix into the flour to make the dough. Let the dough sit and rise for 30 minutes. Next, portion the dough in half.

It’s very common in Germany to use the basic bretzel as the base and then add different toppings, such as cheese and speck. Oma prefers käse breztels, cheese pretzels, so that’s what we made. She’s the boss!  So roll half the dough into a thick 1-1/2 inch strand and cut into individual pieces about 3 inches long. Then cut small grooves into each piece to give texture for the cheese, I mean käse, to adhere.

Boil 3 liters water with 3 spoons of table salt and then bring to a light simmer

Allow each piece of breztel to simmer for 30 seconds

Remove and place on a baking sheet

Top generously with cheese and bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius [350 Fahrenheit]

Now I wondered why we only used half of the dough? The other half is for the 'regular' pretzels we all are familiar with. You'll see :)

Take the other half of dough and roll individual pieces into a long, thin string about 2-1/2 feet long and form into a pretzel

It's a bit blurry but let Oma show you how it’s done!

Repeat the process above and simmer each form for 30 seconds

Place on a baking pan, top with sea salt and bake for 20 minutes

We enjoyed our traditional Pfälzisch bretzels with butter, not mustard, and orange-cinnamon tea topped with rum and not just any rum, but Austrian 80% alcohol rum…that will warm you up!

Rheinhessen Recap

The Rheinhessen is the region just North of the Pfalz and just a 30-minute drive to the base. Since it has similar soil and climate to the Pfalz, the wines are similar in style. Generally, the Pfalz has a bigger, broader palate and fermented dry. The Rheinhessen is typically not as broad and with a leaner style of elegance. I am not well acquainted with the nuances of Rheinhessen so I asked my cellar master at Koehler-Ruprecht, Johannes, for recommendations. He recommended Weingut Keller for its consistency and popularity, Weingut Wittmann for its distinguished mineral intensity, Weingut Gutzler for its Spätburgunder, Thörle for its Silvaner and Weingut Wagner-Stempel for its rich, opulent style.

Map of the 13 different wine regions of Germany

Weingut Keller

Rheinhessen is typically synonymous with Keller. So Weingut Keller was an obvious recommendation but, unfortunately, they were all sold out of wine and couldn’t take any tasting appointments until next spring. Bummer! Apparently, they typically sell out of their Grosses Gewächs wines within 2 weeks. Keller is known for wines that are enormously rich and complex but not high in alcohol. According to Keller, it is more important to have precision of the aroma and flavour than sugar levels.  Sounds like a great philosophy for great German Riesling. I can’t wait to try their wines next year!

Weingut Wittmann

Weingut Wittmann is another well-known winery in Rheinhessen. They produce pure, deep wines with freshness and elegance and are regarded as one of the finest Riesling producers in Germany. The winemaker, Philipp Wittmann, was nominated for the 2013 Winemaker of the Year by Gault Millau, the German wine guide. Pretty high accolades and deserving of a visit I’d say. Unlike Keller, they did have wines to taste but, similarly, a majority were sold out. The only Riesling for tasting was their 2011 Riesling trocken Gutswein. The nose had intense peach aromas with creamy undertones, and a clean and crisp palate with a fresh lemon finish. We also tasted their 2011 Weissburgunder trocken ‘S’ and 2011 Chardonnay trocken ‘S’, and if the rest of their wines taste as complex and balanced as the entry level Riesling then I can only imagine and can’t wait to taste the rest of the range next year. 

Weingut Gutzler

Weingut Gutzler was recommended for its Spätburgunder and I have to agree. Until recently, I’ve been having some trouble finding a Spätburgunder that is well balanced and food friendly. Most have been too light, or too sour, or even too bitter but Gutzler’s Spätburgunders were terrific!  We tasted with the son and current winemaker, Michael Gutzler. He let us taste their entire range of wines and informed us that yields are kept down to 25 hectoliters/hectare in order to maintain the highest quality. The care of the vines and soil really pays off, as you can taste the typicity of their soils and grape variety. 

78-year-old vine Silvaner with hints of melon on the nose and pronounced minerality and salinity on the palate

100% new oak with no malolactic fermentation gave this wine developed banana aromas with leesy notes and an appetizing acidity and freshness

This nose was dense and complex, with beautiful aromas of white peach. Slightly salty and extremely mineral on the palate with incredible length

This wine had finesse, complexity and length with hints of smoke, developed black cheery flavours and fine tannins that build on the finish

Thörle

It was the Silvaner that was highly recommended, but it was the Spätburgunder that blew me away! Such a great tasting, not only did I get more exposure to Silvaner but I tasted a Spätburgunder that I really enjoy! 

 A very distinctive nose of fresh herbs and notes of obvious fruit ripeness. It was spicy and well concentrated on the palate, with light herbs returning on the long finish. It lacked acidity because of malolactic fermentation, but the wine is complex, vibrant and still young.

A brilliant nose with ripe and succulent fruit aromas, very vibrant and mineral on the palate with a warm finish

The Riesling had a deep, cool mineral nose with ripe fruit flavours. It was smoother on the palate, lacking its cool, delicate raciness implicated by the nose. The Silvaner had concentrated minerality with subtle fruit aromas and a fine acidity. Sufficiently soft on the palate makes it a perfect pairing with the delicate flavours of seafood and white meat 

Made from the best grapes of Hölle vineyard. Hölle means ‘hell‘ in German and was given this name because it’s the hottest vineyard in the region. The wine had a nose of ripe black cherry with the freshness of ripe strawberries on the palate, great medium body with balanced acid and a long finish

Weingut Wagner-Stempel

Since Weingut Wagner-Stempel is located in the most southern part of the Rheinhessen and closest to the Pfalz, I am not surprised to hear of its rich, opulent style, which sounds reminiscent to the Pfalz. Unfortunately, I was unable to taste the wines because on the day I visited Rheinhessen the winery was closed for his son's birthday. But I'll keep you posted as I plan to taste their wines next week.

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??? ;)