Same procedure

Last Friday, Jenny and I turned up at Weingut Ziereisen to attend their annual Christmas tasting, or Weihnachts-degustation. You know that the Christmas "season" is starting earlier than it used to when an event like this precedes our respective birthdays on 20 and 22 November. Maybe "Pre-Advent wine tasting" would have been a better name for it.

Be that as it may, we spent a very enjoyable evening negotiating what was a veritable assault course of tasting rooms, each with a different selection of wines to try. Even the flower shop next door got in the act, providing Ziereisen with an additional tasting venue showing some of the estate's more "basic" red wines.

I'd been to last year's tasting on a snowy Saturday and had bought three bottles of the Jaspis Pinot Noir "Jungfernlese" 2008. This time, we left the property with two bottles each of the Pinot Noir "Schulen" 2008, the Weissburgunder "Lügle" 2009, and Markus Molitor's Wehlener Klosterberg Riesling Kabinett trocken. We acquired the latter wine as Markus Molitor is friends with Hanspeter Ziereisen and sells some of his Riesling down here in Markgräflerland via Hanspeter's winery. Molitor, Van Volxem and Beurer (of Stetten/Württemberg) were all represented at the tasting, albeit not by the winemakers höchstpersönlich.

The hordes came from near and far to taste Ziereisen's wines last Friday. We even spotted a busload of pensioners from Waldshut, of all places. Consequently, personal space was at a premium and there was no chance of doing anything other than imbibe.

Feeling headstrong and merry after an evening's consumption (including schnapps) for the price of 10 euro, we also put in an order for six bottles of the 2009 Jaspis Syrah. These won't be ready for release until March/April 2012, which is just as well given that our post-wedding finances should hopefully have evened out a bit more by then!

Packing 'em in... The scene at one of the tasting stops (which was basically a garage).