Mosel Valley
We flew from Vancouver to Frankfurt, then picked up a car rental and headed to Weinromantikhotel Richtershof. After freshening up went to Trier and had a pleasant lunch at Schlemmereule, saw the Roman gate which was quite impressive. Was a bit hot, so we came back and had a brief nap. Dinner that night was at the hotel and was also quite tasty.
The following day we checked out the spa in the hotel which was nice for the jet lag. We then headed to Markus Molitor for our first tasting. We tried about 10 Rieslings from off dry to pradiket. Unfortunately, we found out none of the German wineries ship to North America, I was expecting Canada to be unavailable but typically can ship to our cellar in Seattle, but I should be able to find them online in the USA somewhere. MM line of wines was quite impressive. I really like their pradiket wines, but was introduced to the concept of feinherb which was also really appealing. We then had lunch at the community beer hall, which was an experience but I doubt we will go back anytime soon or recommend it. In the afternoon we visited Weingut Maxferd Richter, next door to our hotel. It was a bit of a confusing entrance, more akin to a winery visit in France then USA, but we sat down with Constantine Richter who was very friendly and knowledgeable. Learnt about the history of their vineyard (including an infamous deal with Napolean) and sampled another 10 or so Rieslings. Also very impressive. We had dinner at Rotisserie Royale which was a nice heritage half timbred room but the meal was not that memorable. I think it retrospect we should have sampled the somewhat nearby Waldhotel Sonnora but booking was tricky during the early week.
The next morning we starting with a tasting at Dr Losen, friendly people a bit more commercial feeling than the others, but as a plus they did let us try an Icewine which was quite delicious. Far more complex than some of the wines I’ve sampled from back home, but to be fair hasn’t been something I’ve explored extensively at the higher end. We went to a local shop to try J J Prum flight, already known as one of my favourites. Finally, we headed to Selbach Oster. Had a flight of 8 of their Rieslings from the proprietor herself. She came in especially for me from her vacation and was quite friendly, going to look out for this one at home. That night we ate at Schanz, an well established restaurant nearby. Food was quite exceptional, service is a bit slow (we had an early morning ahead of us) but friendly and would highly recommend this place. The Mosel region itself was quite pretty, not jaw droppingly so but certainly met my expectations. It is not the sort of place I would recommend making a special trip from Canada to but was perfect for our stopover and to not be jet lagged on Safari. Next time I travel to Africa I may return, hopefully stay and dine at Waldhotel Sonnora. Early the next day we got up early and drove back to FRA, dropped off our car and checked in, a complimentary upgrade to business class was a very nice surprise.