Geisenheim Institute

So Saturday was an interesting yet extremely busy day.

Our group had to be in the lobby of our hotel at 8:45 a.m. to pack in our bus and head out to the University of Applied Science Fachhochschule Geisenheim, on of the world’s most famous wine universities.

We were met by Professor H.R. Schultz, the unversity’s director, in a classroom style setting to discuss “A Journey to Different Varieties & Terroirs in Germany.”

Professor Schultz not only spoke of the terroir in relationship to German varietals, but he also took us through a wonderful historical trip of the Rheingau’s rich heritage. As part of the seminar, we tasted Rieslings from the Rheingau, the Nahe, the Saar and the Mosel as well as other grapes such as Scheurebe, Silvaner, Grauer Burgunder, Spatburgunder and Lemberger. Sounds like we should have had a Hamburger as well, but unfortunately, the class was void of food.

After the class, the group split up into two tours: Tasting Vintage 2011 and Tasting “The Pinot Trio: Gris, Blanc and Noir. I opted for the Vintage 2011, and one hour later, we came out of the underground cellar having an amazing understanding of the vintage in regards to many grapes, Riesling included, of course.

Seminar successful as I will be sure to return to North Carolina to buy as many 2011s as I possibly can.

We broke away for a picnic style lunch of delicious Ginger-Carrot Soup and open-faced bagel sandwiches of many styles. I opted for Prosciutto and Cauliflower with Mayonnaise, a classic combination.

After our quick noshing, we moved on to hear the famous and wonderful Paul Grieco talk about the Summer of Riesling, a phenomenon he has created in the states where restaurants dedicate at least three glass pours to Riesling for the entire summer. Not a challenge for me in anyway, I will have you know.

On the Square, get excited! We have new T-shirts coming very soon.

Paul spoke of the importance of Riesling and proclaimed his love and passion for the grape with complete and utter enthusiasm, no surprise that I had been very much looking forward to his presentation.

We again made our way to the bus and rode to the village of Deidesheim, where we then hiked up to almost the top of the vineyard and met Theresa Breuer of Georg Breuer and Tobias from Josef Leitz.

We tasted the 2010 Berg Rottland of Georg Breuer and Leitz overlooking the vineyard and listening to the wineries and the wines speak to us. Absolutely incredbile and completely magical, it was truly a spiritual moment. Just in case you can’t read how happy I was, I’ll insert photo.

Just as surely as we had walked up to the vineyards, we walked down as well. Easier on the feet but harder on the soul.

We adjourned to the cellar of Leitz where we tasted wines of both Weinguts going back until 2001. While we didn’t get back to the hotel until 7:15, the day ended way too quickly.