The Germans were here

Today was the annual Taster's Guild German wine tasting. Two and a half hours, 89 amazing wines--Rieslings of all levels, from QbA to Auslese and eiswein. Several gewurztraminers, five mineral-laden sylvaners, pinot noir of several styles--with and without oak, and even two sweet ones! I like pinots, but those sweet ones were definitely a unique experience, even if not something I'd actually buy to drink at home. Many of the rieslings, though, just blew me away. Fitz-Ritter, Fischer, Dr. Heyden, among others, make killer rieslings. The 2007's, in particular, were really beautiful, although many need more age.

Many of the wines were represented by either the winemaker from the estates or others close to the production, so we could get a real sense of where the wines came from, both in terms of the land, and the philosophy of the winemakers. That's an extraordinary experience, any way you cut it. But even better, our Wednesday group hosted a post-party for the winemakers. We each brought a bottle (or several) of wine, and some food to share. In all, there were over 40 more wines, all higher end stuff, to share. There were probably 10 or 15 burgundies, some dating back to the early 1990's. The Germans brought along some of their well-aged library wines--one dating back 40 years to 1969. To think that we were drinking wine that was produced the year that man landed on the moon, and five years before I was born--pretty cool. It was a beautifully honeyed, slightly nutty Auslese Riesling.

There was a lot of good food, as usual at these things. Homemade venison sausage was good. A great potatoes gratin. Pork in cherries, chicken satay. Homebaked bread, made by the host. I cooked up a lentil stew, which was very well received by the group. It's amazing how easy it is to cook that, though. Fry up some diced bacon, brown off some sausages. Cook onions, celery, carrots, leeks, and a bit of garlic in the leftover fat. Add in a pound or so of dried, rinsed lentils (they come in a bag at the grocery for about a dollar). In this case, I added liquid in three forms--a bit of white wine, which I cooked down a bit, then added a bunch of stock and enough water to top it off. Seasoned it with a mix of salt, pepper, and a premade "Bavarian spice blend" of mustard seed, rosemary, thyme. Cooked for about 45 minutes, it was done. It was a great, tasty, easy thing to cook, and enough to feed a large group cost about $12.