Finally!  I got to go wine tasting!  I knew German’s were known for their Rieslings, but I had no idea just how much Riesling was coming out of Germany.  TONS!  I looked online and found some pretty great reviews of Bernkastel-Kues, a town along the Mosel River.  One fifth of all German wine is sold in this town so I thought it would boast many tasting rooms, which it certainly did.  Since I get back on a plane to Portland tomorrow and Steve is working today, this was our last day trip and my last chance to see a part of Germany I haven’t seen yet.  It was a nice mellow day that I enjoyed thoroughly.

Bernkastel was on one side of the Mosel River, and Kues was on the other.  This is the main street in Bernkastel.  On the left of the street is the first tasting room we visited…

Rieslings and more Rieslings.  This is Dr. Pauly Bergweiler.  German Rieslings range from dry to very sweet.  The classification is called the Pradikat System.  We tasted everything from dry or Trocken, to semi-sweet or Spatlese, to the sweetest wines of our lives or Trockenbeerenauslese!  We also tried Grappa here, which is fermented grape skins, seeds, and stems.  In my humble opinion, it tastes like straight alcohol and isn’t at all appetizing.  But the Rieslings were great!

Town Square in Bernkastel

This was the Vinotek, or wine museum.  It was self-serve (that would NEVER happen in Oregon) and there were  145 different wines to try.  135 of them were Rieslings and the remaining 10 were Dornfelders, some Roses, and a couple sparking Rieslings.  Since all the tech sheets were in German, we had no idea what were tasting other than the Pradikat Designation.  I was surprised at my liking of the off-dry or semi-sweet Rieslings far above the dry ones.  I’ll be packing some in my suitcase to bring back to Portland.

All the hillsides surrounding the Mosel River are covered in vineyards!  And they are SO steep.  I love that the rows go in every direction.

This is Bernkastel, from the bridge going into Kues.

So glad I was able to see the Mosel region and expand my wine knowledge and experience.  I have a new found appreciation from Rieslings and got to feed my soul a bit.

Well friends, this might be my last photo blog from my Europe trip, but I’ll do a wrap up blog soon once I come back down from the experience and debrief a bit.  Thanks for taking time to read!