Dear fellow wine lover,
My name is Annette and I would like to share my life’s passion with you: Wine!
My fascination with wine dates back to my student days at the University of Mainz. Mainz is one of the 10 Wine Capitals of the World and I quickly realized that in this city, wine is ubiquitous. The most affordable drink in student hangouts was a wine spritzer, the university offered general education classes in wine with accompanying tastings, and every other week there was a wine festival downtown. My husband, Christian, and I met during our freshman year; our shared passion for wine soon became a keystone of our life together.
We were curious about all aspects of wine and wine-making. We took evening wine classes, worked in the vineyards during harvest season, and spent our weekends exploring the hundreds of wineries in the surrounding countryside, tasting great wines right at the source. Wine is so multifaceted: the sip you are taking, and the smells and flavors you taste and describe, are an outcome of a combination of pure nature, production techniques in the cellar, and the philosophy of the winemaker. The different grape varietals, terroir, soils, the ever changing rhythm of nature, the culture the wine is imbedded in – not to mention the role wine has played in history and politics, and, of course, its inherent links to good food – we were hooked!
After thirtyfive years of exploring and tasting wine all over the world, and striving to combine the perfect wine with the perfect dish, friends from our student wine club days, the Hochheimer Wine Brotherhood, asked us to organize a tour of Bordeaux. Since we lived in France for an extended period of time, we got deep into French wines and friendships with wine estate owners had developed. Our fellow Wine Brotherhood members wanted to take advantage of this. To organize this tour in 2011 was so much fun for Christian and I that we decided to share our passion, our network within the wine community, and our in-depth knowledge of wine regions with you. Since then we put together tours of the wine regions we know best, and where we are at home: France and Germany.
Following his career at the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC, Christian returned to his passion of student days: wine. His daily blog, http://schiller-wine.blogspot.com has taken off, and he is now a globally connected wine writer. Being a professional organizer of high-level international conferences - the majority of those were for the World Bank - as well as a people person, planning, implementing, and leading top level wine tours is a very enjoyable home-run for me. Christian's and my close personal ties with many players in the wine scene make every tour a very personal journey for each traveler in our small group.
With our special and complementary skill sets, Christian and I make an excellent team uniquely positioned to deliver a very personal, authentic, and unforgettable experience. Since we have no commercial interest anywhere in the wine and food business, we are completely free in choosing the wine estates and restaurants for our tours.
Come along: in a nutshell: our wine tours are "learning by doing". They are essentially hands-on wine classes on the ground - and also lots of fun!!
