Category: Drinks

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Saturday, 15/07/2023: Melsheimer Weingut

Melsheimer Riesling trocken 2022 and Lentum 2018

Our friend Sven lives in Germany and was very excited that we got to visit his country.

He is also excited about wine and trying new things, so he mobilised his network of experts to find interesting wineries in the area, and drove to Bullay, where we also went to by train (with all the bends of the Mosel, it was the best option logistically speaking!).

So we met at the station, and then drove across the Mosel and past a number of terraced slopes that did nothing but fire our anticipation, until we arrived to Reil, a small beautiful village.

As it were to be the theme of the day, we got to meet the grandfather in the family, who exchanged a few words with us, and quickly called the person currently running the winery, Thorsten.

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Friday, 14/07/2023: Luxembourg sightseeing, then train to Cochem

Mosel and the terraced vineyards, from the train

After walking past it the night before, we visited the Bock itself after breakfast.

It packs a punch; if you like crypts, cannons, views, staircases built in stone and secret passages that lead you down a tall spiral staircase, through a long corridor, up another tall spiral staircase and to an alternative escape route out of the fortress, you should visit too. Well worth the price of admission!

Spiral staircase down the secret passage
Spiral staircase down the secret passage
The corridor
The corridor
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A trip to the Mosel valley

A bunch of grapes from a random house by the Mosel in Cochem, basking in the afternoon sun

“This summer, I’m going to Germany to drink lots of German wines.”

Say that to any random person and you’ll probably get a number of confused looks, if not outright mockery:

  • GERMAN wines?
  • I did not know they made wine out there!
  • Aren’t they sickly sweet?
  • etc…

To be honest, I was one of those people who thought wine couldn’t be made in Germany.

Or rather, it hadn’t even crossed my mind that it was possible!

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My favourites from the Bancroft Wines 2022 portfolio tasting

Bancroft Wines 2022 portfolio tasting event main hall at RIBA

I was invited to attend this event last June (many thanks to Kat!).

It was quite a huge event with LOTS of producers showcasing a veritable variety of wines, and I quickly realised I could not even remotely try as many as I wanted, so I took a quick executive decision to just focus on the producers from the areas that have been intriguing me the most lately: Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, and neighbouring and “up and coming” trend-wise areas from France such as Alsace and Loire Valley.

Unfortunately left untasted were wines from Friulia in the north of Italy, Abruzzo, many from New Zealand and Australia (I was really looking forward to trying out more of their Pinot Noir and Rieslings), etc, etc.

Here are the ones I tasted and liked the best:

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