german wine and tapas

I attended a dinner featuring the wines of three different German producers on September 13, 2016. Sponsored by Harry's Wine & Liquor Market of Fairfield, the dinner took place at Taberna Restaurant Tapas and Wine Bar also in Fairfield. When I saw that one of the wines was a Dr. H. Thanisch Kabinett from the famous Doctor vineyard I signed up immediately. In July of 2013 I had the opportunity to "sneak" into the vineyard and this dinner would give me the chance to meet Barbara Rundquist-Müller, the owner of the winery and a part of the vineyard.

Our starter was this Sekt from Fitz Ritter. A great bubbly to start that is sadly not available to us. 

William Miller of Harry's  getting the evening started.

Ken Dane of Winesellers, Ltd. introduced the winemakers.

Paul Anheuser of the Paul Anheuser Winery presenting his wines from Nahe region. His family's connection to wine goes back to 1627.

The Blanc de Noir was 100% Pinot Noir and quite popular at our table. 

Ursula Müller of G.A. Schneider in Neirstein presented two of her Rieslings. 

The first wine was supposed to be the Paterberg but the Hipping came out instead. Ursula noticed that very quickly and a second glass was brought out for the Paterberg. It was  interesting to try them side by side. Same grape and techniques but different vineyards and ripeness levels. The wines each had their own personality. Both very good but unmistakably different.

Barbara Rundquist-Müller, owner of Dr. H. Thanisch Müller Burggraef  discussing her wines. 

This wine was a great representation of the dry style of Riesling. Dry  Rieslings are quite common in Germany but much less well known in the USA. That is a shame because they are delicious. They are also extremely versatile and can be paired with many foods. 

If I had this wine blind I would not have thought it was a Kabinett. It was richer and rounder than most other Kabinetts I have tasted. A tribute to the vineyard and the winemaker, the wine offered ginger, apple and stone fruits along with the mineral characteristic Riesling is known for. 

Barbara explained that they are using sustainable practices and do not use pesticides and herbicides. With a vineyard like this it is nice to see how much they respect the land in their care. 
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In July of 2013 I visited Bernkastel while on a river cruise. I was walking up the path along side the Doctor Vineyard shown in picture above, trying to find a way in. I kept coming up to closed and locked doors. Suddenly a woman started calling to me from opened windows on the second floor of the building on the right. I first thought she was chastising me for trying to go on private property. At last I realized that she was giving me directions on how to get into the vineyard. "Doctor, Doctor" she repeated and gave me hand signals about how to get in. I called back "Danke"
and made my way in. While I felt like I was trespassing I couldn't resist taking a quick look around. Making sure not to disturb anything I left with a memory I'll cherish always.

Photo courtesy of Dr. H. Thanisch Facebook page

The food and service at Taberna were both excellent. The pace was good, no long pauses and the wines poured before the plates came out. I have to admit that my photos of the food were not very good and I did not include them. 

Thanks to William Miller for putting this evening together and to the winemakers for sharing their wines and stories with us. A big thanks to Taberna as well.