Hoping to call on the knowledge of German wine experts and people who have traveled to German wine country before. My family and I will be visiting friends near Frankfurt (in Liederbach am Taunus) in late May and would love advice on wineries to visit, etc. A little background info:
-My wife and I love Egon Muller rieslings so that would be high on our wishlist. Other producers I dig, though the list goes a lot longer: AJ Adam, Fritz Haag, Doenhoff, W. Schaefer, Shafer-Frohlich, Karthauserhof, Schloss Lieser, Von Schubert, Steinmetz, Von Volxem … I could go on and on. Anyone know the best way to set up some visits? We would be happy to do fewer visits, that are more intimate, as opposed to huge factory tour-type visits. Would love to squeeze in places with good pinot noir too; my knowledge of top producers of Spatburgunder is very shallow so please enlighten me.
-We may be traveling with our German friends for some of the days in wine country, so any suggestions for especially family-friendly wineries to visit? Between our two families we have kids ages 1-7, and places where they will find things of interest and have places to rest, etc. would be a real bonus. Will places generally be stroller-friendly?
-Winery visits will need to be limited to 2 days probably, maybe 3 if I can intersperse enough non-wine fun in on those days. Any suggestions for other things to see when visiting Mosel/Saar/Ruwer, Nahe, Rheinhessen etc. and how to decide which of these to hit since I won’t have time to do all? Outstanding restaurants, must-see tourist sites, and general advice etc would be really helpful. Thanks everyone!
When visiting Andreas Adam from A J Adam in the village of Neumagen-Dhron it is not too far to Bernkastel-Kues. The latter is a beautiful old village itself and Markus Molitor, who arguably makes the best Pinot Noir in the Mosel region, is very close (in Bernkastel-Wehlen). Both Adam and Molitor are nice guys.
Also you should take some time and visit Trier, which is about 50km from Bernkastel-Kues and 30km from Neumagen Dhron. It is Germany’s oldest town, very (!) beautiful and famous for its ancient roman buildings. “Das Weinhaus”, vis-a-vis the house where Karl Marx was born, is a great place to drink the finest wines of Germany by the glas and have a decent meal. You can also buy numerous wines at ex-cellar prices. For a pricier dinner “Weinhaus Becker” comes to mind (2 Michelin stars).
Don’t put too many wineries in your schedule. It will take a two hours ride from Frankfurt to the Mosel valley. And you should reserve some time for walking in the vineyards.
I forgot: Schloss Lieser is close to Bernkastel-Kues as well, Von Schubert is close to Trier. Van Volxem lies in a different direction, but is also only 15km from Trier.
Some of the producers are difficult to visit without an introduction. JJ Prum and Egon Muller are examples. Others are not so much and an appointment is all that is needed.
A car is a necessity.
Kloster Eberbach in the Rheingau is a great visit.
Strollers might work in the cellars, the vinyards not so much.
If you only have a couple of days, I’d limit the wine regions to a couple. Otherwise all day will be spent driving.
German winemakers are generally very hospitable, and they don’t see that many foreign visitors. I’ve always been well-treated. Call and you’ll almost always find someone who speaks English. Be sure to be punctual or call if you’re late. The Germans are big on punctuality.
You should look at a map and try to plan appointments close to one another. The distances aren’t great in kilometers or miles from Frankfurt to the Mosel, but the driving can be slow on the small roads of the Nahe and Mosel. Donnhoff is quite a ways up river over backroads, for instance – 30 minutes or more from the Rhine as I recall.
You could visit (a) the Nahe (Donnhoff, Shafer-Frohlich), (b) the Middle Mosel (e.g., Fritz Haag, Schloss Lieser, W. Schaeffer) and (c) Ruwer (Karthauserhof, von Schubert) in two full days without driving yourself nuts. Karthauserhof and von Schubert are very close. Liesser and Fritz Haag are close; Willi Schaeffer is across the river on the other side of Bernkastel, so it’s probably 20 minutes away at least. From experience, getting from Bernkastel or Trier to the Saar, where Von Volxem is, will take you longer than you expect.
You should assume an hour at least at each place, because they’ll generally sit down with you, and most produce several dozen wines. It’s not like the Napa Valley, where you can grab three sips and dash to the next tasting room. They will often see you relatively late in the day (e.g., 6). In some regions, they avoid appointments on Sunday, which is still a day of rest in Germany.
Footnote: When I visited Donnhoff in 1999, Herr Donnhoff was not very comfortable speaking English. (Luckily I was with German friends.) In six or seven visits over the years to Germany, the only place where I had to operate entirely in (my limited) German was at Max Ferd. Richter, but only because Dirk Richter, the winemaker, was in the US and I was greeted by his 80-year-old father. (I had a wonderful visit.)
As usual, I recommend allowing half a day to visit Burg Eltz: Great Castles - Burg Eltz (from an overnight stay in Bernkastel or Trier or elsewhere in the Mosel region.) If time allows, a cruise on the Rhine river is desirable–can be a half-day or full day outing.
Hi Alan
Lucky you. The town you will be staying in just outside Frankfurt is the perfect jumpimg off point for the Rheingau.
Other suggestions are all excellent however Trier is about a two houir drive each way. Ruedesheim is about 30 minutes.
Schloss Eltz is indeed a terrific visit but the walk from the parking area up the hill to the castle would be rough with small children and I sure wouldn’t want to have to push a stroller up there.
Rheingau reccomendations
Kloster Eberbach Winery and Museum
Weingut Robert Weil (pm me if you’d like an introduction)
Schloss Johannisberg in Johannisberg
Johannishof in Johannisberg (pm me if you’d like an introduction)
Georg-Mueller Stiftung in Hattenheim (they have an exhibit of modern art in the cellars, very cool)(pm me if you’d like an introduction)
Also in Hattenheim a traditional German restaurant called Zum Krug
Walk around the village of Ruedesheim
Take gondola from Ruedesheim up through the vineyards to the Niederwald monument which was commissioned by Kaiser Wilhelm to commemorate the unification of Germany in the 1880s
Near the monument is a cool restaurant called The Rebenhaus which hangs up on the edge of the berg overlooking the entire Rheingau. You can see all the way to Wiesbaden and across the river Bingen, the mouth of the Nahe River
The town for Spaetburgunder is Assmannshausen (check out August Kesseler, pm me if you’d like an intrudoction)
If you want to go a little farther afield a short distance down (north) the Rhein is the very quaint village of Bacharach. Weingut Toni Jost is outstanding.
To get to Bacharach you will have to take the car ferry from Ruedesheim to Bingen (fun in itself) or drive all the way to Koblenz for the bridge. Stunning vistas in the Rheingorge. See the legend of the Lorelei.
Non wine related the Gutenberg museum in Mainz is well worthwhile.
Annette Schiller is organizing a wine tour to Germany in August, 2013, including both “must go wineries” like Dr. Loosen in the Mosel Valley an not so well known wineries like Pawis in the Saale Unstrut region in the former East Germany. You may get some ideas from her trip. See here:
While the walk up to Burg Eltz might be strenuous, I understand there is also a bus shuttle from the carpark to the castle if you don’t want to undertake the walk.
Thanks for the awesome info, everyone. Ken, thanks for all the great suggestions and the kind offer for introductions - I may just take you up on some of those. Let me talk with the boss and figure out what our likely route is going to be, and then I’ll PM you on the ones I know I can make it to before you go to any trouble. Thanks again!
Hi Jane. Damn! Good information. Didn’t know about the shuttle to Schloss Eltz.
Russell, have to respectfully disagree about Loosen.
Alan if you do decide to go to the Mosel Trier is very interesting.
Eric, That’s funny the folks in Worms say that theit town is the elder
The Cathedral while not the largest in Germany ( believe that’s Cologne) is beautiful
Across the little square next to the Cathedral is a casual restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating owned by Annegret Reh (von Kesselstatt) that we enjoy.
In Trier it’s fun to visit the Bischoflisches Weingueter. From time to time they will have some old library wines for sale and very good prices.
The Rheinisches Landesmuseum is full of Roman archeological stuff. Excellent visit.
Interesting about Worms being the oldest town in Germany. Have not heard about that.
In fact, an old writing on the “red house”, located in the Dietrichstraße, claims that Trier is even older than Rome. A meager 1300 years
The “pub-garden” (no better translation) Reichsgraf von Kesselstadt is very nice!
As someone who was born and raised in Germany, I wanted to remind you that credit cards are still not accepted at certain places. If I remember correctly, Weingut Robert Weil (awesome hospitality!!) only accepts cash or german debit cards. You might want to bring extra cash if you intend to bring a lot of wine back to the US.
i also highly recommend the gondola ride in Ruedesheim (that Ken mentioned above) and think it is a fun activity to do with kids. Here is the website: www.seilbahn-ruedesheim.de
Feel free to PM me if you have any further questions - I used to live in Frankfurt.
I had an enjoyable simple meal at von Kesselstatt’s restaurant opposite the cathedral in Trier circa 1998. And they had some older bottles open. It was September and warm enough to sit at the tables outside in the square.
The Worms Cathedral is Romanesque, the one in Koln is Gothic.
As someone who was born and raised in Germany, I wanted to remind you that credit cards are still not accepted at certain places. If I remember correctly, Weingut Robert Weil (awesome hospitality!!) only accepts cash or german debit cards. You might want to bring extra cash if you intend to bring a lot of wine back to the US
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