THE 3 COUNTRY TOUR: Glorious wines in Switzerland - The sun-kissed southern German wine regions with stunning Pinot-Noirs - Breathtakingly beautiful Alsace - The culinary regions with epicurean adventures
10 day immersion: Wednesday, June 25, 2024 – Saturday, July 05, 2024
Germany is so closely identified with Riesling (and yes, it is the largest producer of Riesling world-wide) that you may be surprised to learn that the country is also very strong regarding the Burgundy grapes. It the third-largest producer of Pinot Noir (Spätburgunder), the largest producer of Pinot Blanc (Weissburgunder), and the second largest producer of Pinot Gris (Grauburgunder) in the world. Join us as we discover the beautiful southern German wine regions that produce bone dry, opulent Rieslings with a very different taste profile than the ones from the more northern wine regions such as Mosel, Nahe, Rheingau, and outstanding Pinot Noirs and wines from other Burgundy grapes. We will hop across the border to Switzerland where we find out that Switzerland is a serious wine producer making delicious wines from Chasselat, and Petite Arvine, the diva of the Swiss grape varieties. Back in Germany we will step across the Rhein River to compare the very different style of wines of the eastern (German) and western (French) Rhine valley and we will get a feel for beautiful, quaint Alsace with its incredible picturesque wine villages dotted with half-timbered century old buildings. This 3 country-corner -as it is casually named- is an epicurean's dream: culinary cultures merge and you find a fantastic restaurant scene. We will enjoy 1-Michelin star meals at beautiful restaurants as well as restaurant with local cuisine. Enjoy the Pfalz, the second largest German wine region by growing area and only topped by Rheinhessen, which it borders to the north. From there, the Pfalz stretches to the French border 53 miles to the south and borders the French wine growing region of Alsace. In this region French and German vineyards melt into one another and some wineries on the French side own vineyards in Germany and vice versa. On our way to Mainz, the final point of our journey, we travel through the Rheinhessen wine region, a landscape of gently rolling hills dotted with vineyards as far as the eye can see. Here we find sumptuous red and white wines, and a generation of young, ambitious, up and coming winemakers. Discover the 2000 year old city of Mainz, one of the ten wine capitals of the World, where wine is one of the most important part of everyday life.
- We will visit around 20 wineries: Baden, the most southern German wine region and Germany’s answer to Burgundy. Pfalz with its almost Mediterranean climate and voluptuous whites and reds; Rheinhessen where a variety of white and red grapes grow to produce bold, stunning wines. Alsace with its unbelievable picturesque medieval wine villages and world-class winemakers. The German speaking part of Switzerland, where we enjoy among others, wines from the Chasselat grape, which is one of the oldest vitis vinifera grapes in Europe and endemic to the Western part of Switzerland.
- We will get intimate insights into a selection of Germany’s, Alsatian, and Swiss top wineries.
- We will learn how to read the label on German, Alsatian, and Swiss wine bottles.
- We will experience the German red wine revolution and discover the German Pinot-Noir country.
- We will enjoy typical Southern German and Swiss restaurants with lots of "Gemütlichkeit".
- We will enjoy typical Alsatian restaurants with the French "Savoir Vivre".
- We will enjoy 2 exquisite meals at Michelin-starred restaurants in Germany and in Alsace.
- We will experience the difference between wines from the Eastern and Western banks of the Rhein river.
- We will travel through quietly beautiful sun-kissed rolling hills planted with vines as far as the eye can see.
- We will get the "inside track".
Germany with its roughly 250,000 acres under vine belongs today to one of the smaller wine producing countries in the world. However, viticulture in Germany has a long tradition, going back to Roman times. In the 15th century, the area under vine was four times larger than it is today. Wars, subsequent loss of territory, diseases, overproduction, and competition from beer brewing resulted in land turned over to other agricultural uses. In the 19th century, concentration on terroir and technological progress fostered a tremendous improvement of quality and of the prestige of German wines. In 1987 German red wine accounted for only 15 percent of German wine output. Today, close to 40 percent of German wine is red. Germany is # 3 in terms of Pinot-Noir production world-wide, which is a fact not a lot of people are aware of. Soil conditions in the South were always conducive to Pinot-Noir and other red grape varieties, and with the climate changing, more and more red varieties, in particular Pinot-Noir, were planted. Today Germany makes stunning Pinot-Noirs on par with the best of Burgundy. The Alsace wine region is unique in France. For thousand years this region has gone back and forth between France and Germany. The philosophy and approach of winemaking is more German than French with the focus on single grape varieties; the language is a German dialect; the village names and a lot of winery names are German, but the culinary approach is distinctively French. Switzerland with about 37,000 acres under vine is a very small producer from a global perspective. The wines are excellent and across the board very elegant which is partly due to its higher altitude Alpine vineyard sites. Most of the wines are drunk at home, unfortunately only very few reach the shore of the United States. Switzerland has six different weine regions. One region is the "German Swiss wine region" which straddles along the border with Germany and where we taste some great wines.
