Sommelier Spring Class 25th – 29th
April 2014
First of all I would like to
express my big thanks to the Sommelier Association of Malaysia (SOMLAY) and
German Wine Institute (DWI) in organizing this beautiful trip for me. It was a
real eye opener to German wines and a great vineyard exploration. The whole
trip was well organized in terms of lodging, time management as well as detail
programmed. I would say without any of the efforts and good communication
between the winery and German Wine Institute (DWI) this trip will not be that
sound and successful. What impressed me the most is the amount of winery we get
to visit and the friendliness of the wine producers. We were showed to their
house, winery and even get to know their friends and vineyard dogs. I have
great exposure to the land and soils types, where each of them can bring so
much different to the vines thus affecting the outcome. The best day was the walk in Nahe region, we were
walking through the wine trail on few vineyards, Niederhausen in particular
were so steep with different soils types, from porphyr to schist and were
planted with different grape varieties. This shows that how much love and
research being done before any planting on the respective terroir.
There were
34 of us in this spring class. On the third day 27th April we were
divided into 3 groups to visit different regions. I was in the Rheinhessen
group, travelling to Rheingau and Nahe in the next day. It was a good
experience besides getting into the vineyards and touching the grapevine, I do
make some friends from all around the world. These sommeliers from the European
country are willing to share their experience and wine culture in their country
making this trip more worthwhile.
Before it
ends, I bought a couple of German Riesling and Spatburgunder from respective
winery before flying back. If time permits, I will definitely be back to
Germany in future with hope visiting other winery and wine regions.
Timeline of
the trip
25th April 2014
1500 hrs –
1600 hrs
Touchdown
Frankfurt airport. Waiting for delegates from China, organizing driver from DWI
drove to IBIS Hotel, Mainz
1800hrs
Departure
to Bodenheim for “ Welcome Evening” in Weingut Kuhling-Gillot – Rheinhessen
Dinner with
winery owner- Caroline Spanier-Gillot with the wines from Kuhling-Gillot and
her husband wines, Battlefield-Spanier
26th April 2014
0900 hrs
Departure
to Geisenheim University (famous eonology university)
1000hrs
Wine
Growing & Terroir seminar by Prof. Schultz, President of Geisenheim
University
1130hrs
Wurzelwerk
& Winzers Beitrag comparative tasting of three vitners by Johannes
Hasselbach & Max von Kunow
1300hrs
Open
tasting of Riesling & Pinot Noir of various regions & terroir in
Germany
1500-1700
hrs
Vineyard
walk with explanation and tasting in vineyard with winery Balthasar Ress,
Hattenheim by Stefan Ress. Stefan is outgoing, funny and generous enough to let
us taste its 1999 Rudesheim Berg Rottland Riesling Auslese
1800hrs
Back to
hotel
1930 hrs
Culinary
experience, German food with VDP wines in Kupferbergtassen hosted by Hilke
Nagel VDP and her team
Went down
secretly to 7 level underground sparkling wine
(Sekt) cellar in Kupferbergtasse, winery since 1850
27th April 2014
1100hrs
Seminar at
Mainzer Weinbrose
Ageing
Potential of German Wines. Tried the
oldest Reisling ever, 1959 Heissche Stattsweinguter Kloster Eberbach
Steinberger Riesling Beerenauslese
1200-1600hrs
Visit VDP
fair Weinborse Mainz 2014. VDP fair tasting of recent release of 2013 vintage.
All tasted fresh from 2 weeks of bottling.
1700hrs
Visit and
tasting at Weingut Johanniger in Biebelsheim. Hosted by winemaker aand owner,
Markus Hass. Markus explained us his biodynamic approach and philosophy behind
his winemaking. He also showed us on
manual disgorgement process in his underground cellar.
1900hrs
Dinner at
Johanniger estate, NICKL’s Speisekammer. Fresh white asparagus as main course.
White asparagus season now. End the dinner with more Riesling and Riesling
marc/grappa.
28th April 2014
1000hrs
Nahe wine
tour with Laura Dreher
1100hrs
Winetasting
at Weingut Sinss , Nahe
1400hrs
After
traditional German’s sausages lunch, we walk from Sinss winery via wine trail
to Niederhausen.
Great
exposure to the terroirs, beautiful sceneries, steep vineyard and we were told
all different soils are planted with different grape varieties. It’s amazing to
know that 2km walk in wine trail we were
exposed to 6-8 different soils types.
1530hrs
Winetasting
at Weingut Jakob Schneider hosted by Jakob Schneider. One of the oldest winery
and the first winery to bottle their own wine in Nahe.
Jakob is friendly enough when we request to
try some old Riesling from his cellar. He ran down to the cellar and pick up
few old ones. 1989 Rosenberg Riesling Auslese is one of the marmalade, juicy
stuff he pulled the cork for us.
1630hrs
Departure
to Guldental
1700hrs
Cooking
class and winetasting of various Nahe wine at Der Kaiserhof.
Sommeliers
have to cook their own dinner under the guidance of the chef owner of Der
Kaiserhof. Great experience for all where we gel in like a team in kitchen,
everyone has their own apron and station to prepare the foods. More Riesling
and Pinot noir for dinner.
29TH April 2014
0800hrs
Check out
at IBIS hotel
0830hrs
Departure
to Siefersheim.
Winetasting
and lunch at Weingut Wagner Stempel, Rheinhessen.
We were
shown the difference of Riesling from Hollberg and Heeerkertz vineyard.
1200hrs
Departure
to Frankfurt airport. Return flight at 1700hrs.
Goodbye by now Germany, I will see you again soon!
