Trip Report: epic weekend in the Mosel

[Ben_H2]

@Rahsaan_M

Sounds like an epic weekend indeed. And yes, those tastings straight off the overnight flight can be rough! It helps a lot if you’ve gotten a bit of sleep. Otherwise, I typically have no interest in alcohol. Although adrenaline does a lot of work, if you know you only have a limited amount of time.

Yeah next time I will not do the overnight flight. Worked out though since I had the time to kill before checking in, but I would have enjoyed it more on more sleep.

[Ben_H2]

@Thomas_Keim

I stayed in Zeltingen on my last trip. The Zeltinger Hof is well worth the trip, but there’s some super fun restaurants along the river.

I actually liked the smaller town vibe of Zeltingen but next time I would like to explore a bit more. I did not get very far south.

[Ben_H2]

@gavin.f

Did you get the chance to try Stefan’s palomino? Have been curious.

Didn’t get to (or know about) the Palomino, I told him not to open bottles he didn’t have already open after we went through the first 30ish bottles lol.

[gavin.f]

seems reasonable

[John_Morris]

Great notes, Ben. Makes me want to return.

I think Richter’s wines are underappreciated, which also means they tend to be very modestly priced.

I visited there in 2003. Dirk’s father, Constantin’s grandfather, hosted me. He was in his late 70s but sharp as a tack. He spoke no English and my limited German was very rusty, but he was a warm host, and he kept sending his aide, a middle-aged woman, down to the cellar to bring up progressively older and sweeter wines. So I have particularly fond feelings toward the winery!

[Brian_G_r_a_f_s_t_r_o_m]

@Ben_H2

. Because Germans don’t drink much German wine…

So what wine(s) do they tend towards? I thought Germans do drink German wines, but mostly trockens —- is that wrong?

[Rahsaan_M]

@Brian_G_r_a_f_s_t_r_o_m

@Ben_H2

. Because Germans don’t drink much German wine…

So what wine(s) do they tend towards? I thought Germans do drink German wines, but mostly trockens —- is that wrong?

Always tough to generalize about a whole country. Yes, there is more domestic consumption of dry wine than rs wine. But Germans mostly look abroad for red wine and even for dry white wine, are very likely to look abroad. It always makes me cringe when Germans buy forgettable imported white wines when there are so many high-quality character-filled German white wines for the same price.

But images and stereotypes are real. German wine marketing may not be very successful in the US, but it’s not that much more successful in Germany! Other countries’ wines are often seen as more stylish.

Obviously these are GROSS generalizations, lots of variation by region, subculture, etc…

[Ben_H2]

I had a somewhat similar experience where when I arrived and it was a great first place to visit. He started me on their entry level offerings and then as he realized I had some real appreciation for the wines went a lot deeper in the tasting and kept on bringing out new things to help me understand their full range.

[Lars_Carlberg]

A visit to Max Ferd. Richter is like entering a time machine to the Mosel’s heyday around 1900.

[DC_rane]

And if tasting with Dirk the history lesson to accompany it.