Sex sells! Wine is no exception.

Have you ever heard of a grape variety called Domina? Well, no worries, Domina only plays a minor role in the German wine market and has only locally some importance. The total vineyard area of Domina is about 400 hectares and almost 85% (340 ha) are planted in Franconia (Franken). Here it has got some awareness as this region originally is a designated white wine region and yes, Domina is a red variety.

Typically wines made from Domina are deep red, almost black, full bodied but earthy and high in acid and tannins. Earthy and smoky flavors, paired with dark fruit like blackberry make up their bouquet. They usually don’t reach to the elegance of a Pinot Noir (aka Spätburgunder), which is also widely grown here, but nevertheless it has got its fan base among the red wine connoisseurs. This is why you find lots of pure Domina wines in Franconia, whereas in other regions it is often used as a partner in blends to take advantage of the dark color and its extracts.

So, where is the hook to the headline? What is so sexy about this all? Well, in Germany the word Domina nowadays has quite a juicy sound. The original meaning of it (abbess) is not in use anymore but it is used now for a dominant lady in a sexual meaning (in English: Dominatrix). Think of black leather, strong and dominant attitudes, that’s what the Domina wines are associated with. What a marketing coup, isn’t it?

Well, to come to the defense of the cultivator of the grape, Peter Morio, when he crossbred this grape from its parents the Blauer Portugieser and Pinot Noir back in 1927 the word Domina still got its original meaning. What a prospective naming!

Today, with respect to our understanding of self-determination and the right of sexual autonomy, the sexual card isn’t played much in the marketing of the Domina wines anymore, but recently I found an old billboard with an ad for Domina wines, leading the way down to the cellars of a big cooperative winery. At least this made me quite curious about what I would be faced with in the deep dark vaults of the cellar. So you see, it still works!

In other words: Ten weeks of workout can make you feel sexy again, so does one bottle of Domina. 

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.

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

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.

White wine with the fish!

Roter Veltliner from Austria

Although this is not the full truth you will be on the safe side if you follow this rule.

The proteins of fish do not harmonize well with tannins and reds in general have got more tannins than whites. If you want to pair a red with fish you should choose one with soft tannins like a light Pinot Noir or a Rosé. Avoid also too heavy woodened ones and this applies to both, reds and whites. A heavily woodened Chardonnay would also not be the best choice.

We had a roasted gilthead, which could have coped with a light red but we choose a white grape called Roter Veltliner from Austria. This grape is a quite rare one and despite its name it is not related with the most famous Austrian grape, the Grüner Veltliner. It is a fruity type of wine with a crisp acidity. This one is called Wiener Symphoniker, because it was choosen as the house wine for the Symphonic Orchestra of Vienna.

Perfect for this symphony of a dish.

We call it Schnitzel

Variation of Schnitzel

You hardly find a traditional German restaurant not serving at least one dish of Schnitzel. The variations of Schnitzel is unbelievable, not only of different meat, like pork, veal or turkey, but also of different recipes. Most common is the Wiener Schnitzel (viennese schnitzel) which traditionally is a breaded veal escalope, served with potatoes or fries. There are others with a sauce e.g. with mushroom, the Jägerschnitzel (hunters schnitzel) or like we had, a Paprikaschnitzel with bell pepper (Paprika), tomatoes and onions.

But what to drink with a Schnitzel? Probably 9 out of 10 Germans you ask this question would say: Beer! Well, I am the one who answers: Wine. Of course! :-)

We had a Gelber Muskateller (Muscat blanc à petits grains), which is a quite aromatic wine. This one is from the German wine region Pfalz (Palatinate), a sun-blessed region in the south-west near France, producing opulent wines. The wine is semi-sweet which pairs quite well with the spicy and sweet aromas of the salsa. It definitely would also go well with asian food.

If you ever stumble into a German restaurant, have a Schnitzel and remember me by ordering a wine.

Old vine from the old winery

Riesling with chicken

Probably you wonder that ze German guy almost never talks about THE German grape, the Riesling. Well here we are!

For sure, Riesling is the best known German grape variety. It is well aromatic, usually of ripe peaches and flowers and it has a tangy acidity caused by the continental climate here in Germany. The wines of the Riesling are real all-rounders, to pair with a lot of dishes. And the wine is very long lasting, indeed it evolves quite well the longer you preserve it in the bottle (given that you store it dark and cool).

This one here in my glass is called “Alte Reben” which means “old vine”. But this refers to the age of the vines rather than to the age of the wine. It is said that the older the vines the better the quality of the wine. Old vines have a very huge rootstock to bring up the best of the soil and this makes up the quality of a wine.

Probably you can decipher the year date on the emblem of the winery, the Staatliche Hofkeller located in Würzburg, the heart of Franconia. The number is 1128 and yes, this is the year when the winery was founded. By this the Hofkeller is one of the oldest wineries in the world.

Today we paired our Riesling with a roast chicken, prepared with a marinade of honey, oil, paprika and herbs. Together with a fresh salad really delicious.

About bread and grape varieties

A German Brotzeit with wine

There are almost innumerous grape varieties in Germany but have you ever heard about how many variations of bread we have? Over 1,000! Yes, bread... different! And I am not talking about different shapes but of different recipes. Bread is kind of a national heritage and national pride. No surprise that we have an own meal we “celebrate” regularly, called Brotzeit (bread-time), like the tea-time in good old Britain.

Most common is sourdough rye bread, which you can have as basis for either sweet or savory toppings. Especially in the southern part of Germany you have a cold dish in the evening, with sausages, ham, cheese and pickles in all different variations. This is a Brotzeit.

I had goat cream cheese as basis layer and a topping of tomatoes, fresh and dried, with some green garnish from the herb garden. A perfect summer dish.

And what would suit better than a summer wine? The typical summer wine, in my point of view, is a chilled rosé. This one is a rosé of the Muskattrollinger grape from the Württemberg region, which is the main growing region of this grape. Muskattrollinger is a blue grape also known as Muscat Hamburg, which originally is a table grape. But the crazy Germans make wine of everything, even from table grapes.

The spicy, highly aromatic flavor is a reminiscent of the Muscat aroma and the slightly sweet taste pairs perfectly with the creamy cheese and the tomatoes. With 11% vol. alcohol this is a nice fellow for these warm evenings on the terrace.

What are your favorite terrace pairings?

Stay tuned

Lentils love Pinot Blanc

Pinot Blanc with fish and lentils

And I love lentils, yes and of course do I also love Pinot Blanc. You wonder why I talk about Pinot Blanc all the time but you can’t see anything of this in the picture? Well, this is because Pinot Blanc translates into German as Weissburgunder and that’s what you find on the label here.

In German all Pinots have this ending “-burgunder”, which means Burgundy grape. Pinot Noir is Spät_burgunder_, Pinot Gris is Grau_burgunder_ and Pinot Blanc is Weiss_burgunder_.

A ripe Pinot Blanc, preferably matured on the lees, has got the perfect creamy mouthfeel to pair with this smooth and earthy texture of the lentils. Yes of course, in this case the lentils are just the side dish for the pickerel but they are the predominant taste on the plate. The fish is fine with the white wine anyway so lets concentrate on the higher intense flavors on the plate to pair with our wine. This is quite often the sauce or the side dish rather than the main component.

Who loves lentils as much as I do (and as the Weissburgunder does)?!

Alter Satz - Heritage of biodiversity

Traditional Franconian Bocksbeutel bottles

In 1835 first European settlers landed on the north banks of the Yarra River, Australia, in California the gold rush began and in Franconia, Germany, a small vineyard was planted with at least 35 different grape varieties.

A lot changed since then, Yarra Valley became a spot on the map of wine regions, wine became the new gold in California but the small vineyard in Franconia remained as it was back then. Almost forgotten, for god’s sake, too far apart from other vineyards to merge with and too far for Phylloxera to reach, so that there was no need for clearing and grubbing it. Almost 180 years later the vines still produce grapes and thankfully there is a vintner – Otmar Zang of Sommerach - who is anxious to preserve this heritage by caring for this vineyard called “Rimbacher Landsknecht”.

The Gemischter Satz - farmers perils insurance

What today seems completely absurd, to plant in one vineyard 35 different varieties, was back then in Franconia the norm. A so called “Gemischter Satz” (mixed planting) was the perils insurance for the farmer to harvest at least something even in years with bad weather conditions, and there were lots of those back then. Even if some grapes would not ripen others would. And not to forget, the vast biodiversity is a perfect measure of pest management because pests and diseases can’t specialize on certain plants.

No surprise, the wine made from this vineyard is outstanding. The diversity of varieties translates into an overwhelming complexity. The aroma is rather weak in the intensity, without clearly defined peaks, but is composed of too many different impressions to describe it comprehensively. Furthermore it is almost senseless to describe the taste of this wine because it would never be the same again. All 35 varieties are harvested together, this means that each vintage is different. What almost certainly will retain in each vintage is the pleasant minerality which originates from the 30 to 50 ft. deep rootage of the vines in the shell limestone of this area. A distinct acidity is also characteristic for Franconia and so it is for this wine.

The wine is called “Alter Satz” which refers both to the old (German: “alt”) vines as well as to the “Gemischter Satz”, the mixed planting. “Satz” also translates into “sentence” or “phrase” which is a nice analogy. In other words, a single grape variety is like a violin but a “Gemischter Satz” is an orchestra.

You are interested in what grape varieties are planted there, well so is Otmar Zang as well. Of the 35 different varieties there are only 16 identified yet. Even the experts of the Federal Research Institute of viticulture (Bundesforschungsanstalt für Rebzüchtung) could not identify the remaining 19 definitely. Predominant is the oldest German variety “Elbling” which almost disappeared from today’s wine lists. Of course the Franconian signature grape the green Silvaner can be found there but also its less known sisters yellow and red Silvaner. Others are e.g. Aligote, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir, Riesling, Heunisch, Muscateller, Traminer and Gutedel (Chasselas) varieties.

Now, did I water your mouth? If so, then I am deeply sorry to tell you that you need to come over to Franconia to taste it. There are only about 2.000 Bocksbeutel filled each year of this precious wine. But in this case precious does not automatically mean expensive. The 2013 “Alter Satz”, Rimbacher Landsknecht, Franken is listed with 13,50 EUR for the 0,75 liter Bocksbeutel bottle.

Enjoy!