Ten out of forty thousand - a nice selection of a great collection

How many bottles of wine do you store in you cellar? Ten, twenty or even a hundred? What about 40.000!? Yes, forty thousand. That’s the number of bottles that an elderly married couple in Würzburg, Franconia, collected over the last 40 years. And this are just the bottles which were stored away. Uncounted the wines that were drunk by Wolfgang and Luise Koegel, since they were infected with the wine-virus back in the 1970s. They made it their hobby to drive through the German wine regions and visit wineries almost each weekend.

Ten out of forty thousand

They amassed this great collection and till this day they open a bottle each day. Now in their 90^th the lease of their cellar was resigned and they had to decide what to do with all those wines. Be it fate or coincidence, they converged with Martin Steinmann, the owner of the wine estate Schloss Sommerhausen, who instantly was stunned by this compilation of German wines of the last 40 years.

But what to do with those wines? Taken by inquisitiveness about this hoard, Martin agreed to care about this fanciful assortment. The challenge was not only the mere number of the bottles but also that there were almost no duplicates, which made it barely impossible to commercialize this selection. By another coincidence the Vinum wine magazine got attention of this. This and the fact that the Koegls had no commercial interest with their wine heritage saw to it, that they bore the idea to salvage this for charity purposes.

Tasting for charity

“Transferring all the bottles to one of the cellars of the Weingut Schloss Sommerhausen was a challenging task, but the bigger exercise was - and still is - to screen and classify the bottles”, Martin comments this. The idea was to pack six bottles each into a cardboard box and merchandise them as a surprise package. The net profit of this benefits the charitable organization Wine Saves Life e.V. supporting child welfare in developing countries.

Besides this, Martin hosts a surprise wine tasting of ripe wines each month. Lucky me, I could attend one of this tastings. We had a line-up of ten white wines of vintages between 1976 and 1993, dominated by the German Riesling grape, but also one of Muskateller, of a Traminer and of a Scheurebe. One surprise was, that all of the wines were still drinkable, but the bigger surprise was how excellent some developed and matured. Especially Riesling with some residual sugar matures pretty well. The typical fruity flavors are complemented by balmy notes like honey, resin or wax.

You need not to collect 40.000 bottles but you could consider to store away some of your favorite wines for later. Much later! Ah, and if you don’t want to wait until then, I know from good authority, that there are still some surprise packages left. You could try to get one via the Vinum magazine (www.vinum.de/weinsammlung). See also www.winesaveslifes.de and www.sommerhausen.com for more information.

1993 Ortenberger Schloßberg
Muskateller Spätlese

1989 Wachenheimer Fuchsmantel
Riesling Spätlese

1984 Schloßböckelheimer Kupfergrube
Riesling

1983 Forster Ungeheuer
Riesling Spätlese trocken

1983 Niersteiner Petersberg
Scheurebe Spätlese

1983 Dürkheimer Michelsberg
Riesling Auslese

1976 Johannisberger Hölle
Riesling Auslese

Franconian wine boarded the Ark of Taste

In one of my early posts I told you about a very special wine from Franconia, called “Alter Satz”. The specialty of this wine is that it is vinified from a great variety of grapes -35 in total - which grow together in a single vineyard and are harvested and vinified together. This viticulture is known as “Gemischter Satz” (mixed planting).

Alter fränkischer Satz

What in the distant past was something like the perils insurance for the vintner to ensure that even in bad years he can harvest at least anything is nowadays a precious refuge of biodiversity. But there remained not many of those spots, because this doesn’t fit into a modernized, even industrialized viticulture. Especially in the German wine region of Franconia some vintners sustained such vineyards and preserved this tradition. Here this is called “Alter fränkischer Satz” and the Slow-Food organization recognized the deserving protection of it.

In the truest sense of the motto “eat and drink what you want to preserve” the Slow-Food Foundation for Biodiversity nominated the “Alter fränkischer Satz” as a new passenger to the Ark of Taste. The Ark of Taste lists more than 2000 heritage foods, plant and animal species from all over the world, which are at risk of disappearing. It focusses on the pleasure of good food with the commitment to the region it comes from and to the environment. By consuming those produce everyone can contribute to their preservation, because only if there is demand they will be produced. To be part of this Ark is a great honor for the tradition of Franconian winemaking.

You want to know how this wine tastes! Well that’s a pretty tough question and there is no easy answer. Take thirty and more grape varieties which are in different composition in each vineyard and in different degrees of ripeness. Harvest and vinify them together. Do I need to explain more? This is a too complex equation to solve. Each wine and each vintage is unique, and that’s what makes this so outstanding and worthy to preserve.

The Alsace: French wine with German cousinhood

Gewurztraminer from the Alsace

Alsace, the wine region in the north-east of France, has quite a rumbling history and changed its national affiliation several times between France and Germany in recent centuries, of course not always by choice as you can imagine.

Nowadays there is no conflict about the national belonging anymore but nevertheless the people there maintained a pleasant mixture of both nationalities. The exquisite cuisine definitely is influenced by the French. But people in the Alsace still widely speak a German based accent, no surprise, the Alsace is just across the Rhine from Germany. So the region is closer to the German wine region Palatinate (Pfalz) than to the other French wine regions. This is the main reason why the viticulture is more influenced by the German wines than by the French ones.

The Vin d’Alsace got AOC status, but other than in the other French regions it usually is made of a single grape rather than as a Cuvée of several grapes. The dominant varieties are the traditional German grapes like Riesling, Sylvaner or Gewürztraminer. More than 90% are white wines.

The Gewurztraminer (spelt without the German “ü”) got intensive flowery and spicy flavors (spice means “Gewürz” in German), low acidity and often some residual sugar. So has the one I choose this time.

The Gewurztraminer traditionally pairs quite well with a tarte or with goat cheese. I went for the second option and served with honey and spices marinated cream goat cheese together with the wine.

Santé and zum Wohl!

Relaunch of Franconias Bocksbeutel

From time to time you find posts from me with this rounded flat bellied bottle called Bocksbeutel, which is the quasi trademark of Franconian wine.
Today the newly designed Bocksbeutel was presented to the public. The silhouette remained almost the same but it became more "edged".

The design was made by the renowned German designer Peter Schmidt, this is why the bottle is named Bocksbeutel(PS).

What do you think of this new appearance?

Bocksbeutel PS - Photo credits: Haus des Frankenweins / Rolf Nachbar

Barolos and Barbarescos little stepsister

Barbera d'Asti with ravioli

When talking about wine from the Piedmont in Italy, we almost immediately think of the great Barolo. Of course this is the flagship wine of this region, with worldwide reputation. The Barolo is made of the Nebbiolo grape and his sister of the same grape – the Barbaresco – also stands out of the mass. But the Piedmont has lots more to offer than this, for sure, outstanding grape.

There are also other grapes grown in the Piedmont, one is the Barbera. There is a DOCG called Barbera d’Asti which sets high standards for the viticulture of this grape and the wines produced from it. When we were in the Piedmont last year, I also took some bottles of the Barbera home with me, of course besides some other bottles of the Barolo. But whereas the Barolos need at least 15 to 20 years to mature before they are best to be drunk, the Barbera, with its much softer tannins, reaches its maturity much earlier. So lucky me, I released one of the Barbera d’Asti from my cellar to open it.

This one is a 2012 Barbera d’Asti DOCG, Superiore. Superiore means that it is higher in alcohol and was matured at least 14 month, of which 6 month had to be in wooden casks. This one had a characteristic fruity flavor of morello cherry and some herbal notes. The moderate tannins and a crisp acidity complemented its rounded, medium-heavy body.

So, what to pair with this wine? If you are unsure what to pair with a wine then first think of where it comes from and second, what are traditional dishes or specialties from there. Quite often the viticulture and the cuisine of a region evolved mutually, so that the traditional dishes pair very well with the wines of the region.

Besides its wines the Piedmont is famous for its truffles. So we decided to go for ravioli filled with a pastry of truffles and a salsa of tomatoes and grilled veg. After all, a good choice I’d say.

Alla salute!

Catfish and Riesling

Catfish with Franconian Riesling

In Franconia there are relatively few natural lakes. To supply the demand for domestic fish there evolved lots of small fish farms during the last centuries. Many of them grow fish in ponds which are fished dry each year during fall season.  So this is the season to have the best domestic fish like carp, trout or catfish.

You could have catfish in all different sizes and there are some restaurants where you could order a fish in advance for a certain number of ‘eaters’. There were three of us with this boiled catfish here. Together with potatoes and a traditional horseradish sauce this was delicious.

We opted for a Riesling from Franconia together with the fish. Riesling is one of the most versatile white wines, which goes well along with many dishes. Pretty well of course with fishes.

It’s pumpkin season!

Risotto with squash and German wine

I love this time of the year, when the nature becomes so colorful. Leaves turn yellow, red and brown and harvest is on its height. And it is pumpkin season!

There are lots of different dishes you could have with pumpkin. I went for a traditional style risotto together with roasted dices of a red kuri squash. To dice the squash is not too easy and needs a good knife and muscles, but the effort definitely is worth it. By roasting the squash it gets a creamy consistency and together with the risotto it almost cries for a wine which takes this texture up and complements the nutty flavors.

A wine which has all this is a full-bodied Pinot Gris which matured in wood. Pinot Gris (or Pinot Grigio) is called Grauburgunder in German, this is what you see on the label here. This one from Franconia got aromas of ripe yellow fruits like peach or quince. Yes yellow (and orange) are nice colors, especially these days.