Wednesday, November 10, 2010

No Pfalz starts

Orchestral tours are fun but sometimes you end up at a loose end in a place like Ludwigshafen. If you happen to have a free day in one of Germany's least attractive cities take a trip of 22 km's to Laumersheim and you're in the heart of one of the great wine areas. Accompanied by three intrepid low brass colleagues, three of whom actually admit to being able to play the ophicleide (a wondrous feat in itself), I arrived at the famous Knipser winery at 10.30. We were truly well looked after and spent the entire morning tasting just about everything this superb winery has to offer. And there were some truly lovely offerings. I wasn't completely overwhelmed by the dry Riesling Kabinett's, but realised later that perhaps my morning palate had been rather ruined by my after breakfast ablutions. For morning wine tasting lose the toothpaste. But after a while the superb quality of Knipsers wines began to win through on my palate. The highlights were both reds, although the Weissherbst (Spätburgunder) is a truly delightful wine which I look forward to revisiting next summer. A 2004 Spätburgunder Spätlese really captivated me with memroies of my Grandad's tobacco pouch mixed with ripe cherries and distant roadworks... as well as those lovely farmyard aromas. The Cuvee X was also terrific but a tad expensive, and needing cellaring time which I can't really give . Another delightful and unusual offering was a Gelber Orleans, a grape that Knipser is reviving with remarkable results. Reports will follow, the wine is in as of today.