The history of German wines began with the ancient Romans who conquered the region about 100 B.C. and started cultivating grapes soon thereafter. In the Middle-Ages the monastic orders established many of Germany's finest vineyards and with their meticulous care of the vines and wines, set the standard for the high quality of German viticulture. The Church's vineyards were divided up and sold to private owners and the states when Napoleon conquered the Rhine region in 1803 — yet the vineyards thrived and the fame of their wines continued. Since that period there has been constant progress and development towards the world class wines we see today.
GrapeRadio traveled to Germany to bring you the stories directly from the vineyards. This is a first in a multi part series "Tour of Germany".
Today our guest is Ulrike Bam, of the German Wine Institute and Wine Maker Andreas Spreitzer of Weingut Spreitzer.
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okay, i have not listened to this show as of yet (although i am a BIG german reisling fan), but i did have a question.
yesterday i was at a restaurant and i ordered a bottle of wine off their list. normally, i bring my own wine, but yesterday i was caught without. i had a nice discussion with the wine guy at the place, and i ended up ordering a bottle of wine for $130. my initial question is what is the appropriate amount to tip for an expensive bottle of wine? in theory the wine service should be the same (or at least close) for a $40 vs a $200 bottle, and i'm curious what opinions are with regards to gratuity in this scenario.
in addition, the wine guy was apologetic about the quality of the wine glasses. they were clearly not up to par for the quality of his wine list and the quality of the food. do i take this into account when leaving a tip?
one of his comments about the wine glasses made reference to the restaurant's corkage policy. the restaurant does NOT charge for corkage. highly unusual (and welcome) for the quality of the restaurant and the location. the problem with the policy is that some people come in with sub-par wines (think 2 buck chuck) for the quality of the food service. entrees were in the $25-30 range. when people come in with some of these wines and ask for the reidel sommelier glasses, he says it leaves him in a difficult position.
so i'm curious about some opinions on some of these issues.
looking forward to listening to this podcast as i do to all of the grape radio shows.
Off the subject, I tried to subscribe to the newsletter several months ago, but I haven't received any. I checked both the newsletter and announcement of upcoming shows on my profile. I get the announcements, but no newsletters. What am I doing wrong? Always enjoy the shows.
Loved part one of the German tour!!! I was lucky enough to be sent to Germany for 8 days of wine tasting thru an exporter. It is incredibly beautiful and a trip I will never forget.
Looking forward to part 2!!
Thanks so much for featuring German wines. As a member of the German Wine Society ( http://www.germanwinesociety.org ) I am always happy to see German wine get some exposure, but especially in this case as your reports are always very well done. I am looking forward to the rest of the series.
And I was very pleased to hear the comment about kabinett being a little like sunshine! That's exactly what it's supposed to be.
In response to Paul R and the ensuing discussion about how to tip on wine.
I have been a sommelier for almost nine years now and this topic comes up often. The only addition that I feel I have to make is that the government taxes the server on their sales. They do not take into account what those sales were they just tax them on their total sales. While I realize tipping on big checks is painful, it is important that you keep in mind that the server is tipping out on sales and being taxed on sales.
In conclusion, I understand when we don't get 20% on a check with a big bottle of wine but if you don't tip at least 10% on the wine the server will actually be loosing money on your table.
This is a pretty cool article on Germany. My heritage goes back to Germany (and to some degree Ireland). I live in the USA (born and raised), yet on occasion we can see the stereotype many Americans continue to have against Germany due to Adolph Hitler and the World Wars. I think just checking out the little panoramic picture at the top of this article says a lot about what Germany is than just violence and the Berlin Wall. I can only imagine the wine business and vineyards are doing particularly well in this sort of landscape. I live in the country myself, with some vineyards close by; but there is something about European wine I have always enjoyed. Maybe it is just the foreign taste that is so great!
I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that germany is known for its wine! I will be sure to sample German wines next time I find myself in the area!!