Thursday, June 5
We'd noticed the day before that both Oestrich and Winkel appeared to have a surplus of rooms, which seemed to be laying vacant until the tourist rush that will surely come in the next month. There were numerous fairly sizable hotels with very few guests between them. Where we were staying at Hotel Ruthmann, we ate alone in a pretty grand dining room overlooking vineyards sloping down to the Rhine. The man who ran the hotel was extremely nice, and he put out a full breakfast spread, seemingly for us. After breakfast he rented us a pair of bikes, which we rode as far as the riverside path appeared to let us go, stopping near the train station in Rüdesheim (above.) Besides catching the beautiful scenery, we were able to use this journey to scope out the boat times for later in the day when we made towards Bacharach. There were ferries every hour during the day, which would carry us across the river to Bingen. From there we'd have to take another train up to Bacharach, but if we timed it right, we might be able to make it to a ferry that went all the way up the river to Bacharach.
As we got to the end of the path, we turned back to get lunch in Oestrich. There we had a 2PM visit at the Peter Jakob Kühn wine estate. We particularly loved a feature on the bikes, which allowed us to hold the wheels stationary with a permanently fixed lock on the back wheel of each. Like a train station locker, the key stayed in the lock until you wanted to stall it, and then you could turn it and take the key with you. It might not be practical for nicer bikes, which I imagine would still be stolen, certainly in New York, but for the tank-like bikes we had, it was a great solution that didn't require us carrying a separate bike lock along.
Angela Kühn, wife of Peter, was extremely generous with us, showing eight wines, ranging from crisp and dry to very rich and sweet. We talked about wine, farming, corkscrews, and family for well over an hour. We were there to check out the wine, but we talked all around that. As I often find when working at the wine shop, the great wines we work with really speak for themselves, so I was less interested in hearing what she thought of each particular wine as the stories of what they're doing with their production–while drinking the wine of course.
Angela, for her part, represents the eleventh generation of winemakers in her family, and she is a very proud grandmother, who seems to anticipate the family business will continue for the foreseeable future. Certainly, she says they've had a profound amount of success in the last fifteen years or so. They built they're current facility at the top of Oestrich originally in the early 80s, but they did a major renovation in the early 00s following a great surge in demand. The facility was stunning, with the tasting space now situated in what was once the old cellar, including very high ceilings built for the tall wine vats. The floor was made from largely-quartz rock mined in their own local fields, and from the ceiling hung racks of long stemmed glasses that gave the appearance of chandeliers.
One of the most interesting parts of our conversation revolved around biodynamics, which is essentially an extremely rigorous form of organicism popular with many farmers in Europe, based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner, who is also behind the Waldorf school movement. It took almost 20 years to get their biodynamic vision fully together, a titanic undertaking for the estate, which came at the same time as their building expansion/renovation. They first started considering it and reading about biodynamics in the early 90s, got certified in 2004, and maintained regular contact with a coach for another six years after. She says it was all worth it because the grapes are better than ever. As she pointed out, the natural living systems of the vines are healthier because the plants are not force-fed with chemicals or food. They are not overstuffed. The roots run deeper into the ground, searching for sustenance and taking on a greater natural quality from the region's soil. The vines are naturally healthy, have more potent yeasts, and create racier, spicier, and more mineral wines. They can be a bit austere, showing less fruit than some people like, but as she remarked, "The wines should taste like the grapes you eat off the vine, not like ananas (pineapple.)"
It was a great little visit, and Angela was so welcoming, eager to share with us. We ended in perfect time too to catch the train out of Oestrich-Winkel to Rüdesheim, where we ran to the ferry and made it with a few minutes to spare. I'm glad we checked it out in advance earlier in the day because we would likely have been searching more for where the ferry was proximate to the station, and with the quick turnaround, that was important.
The boat tour itself up the Rhine was stunning. As Angela had pointed out, the rock shifts to more slate at Rüdesheim and going up the Mittelrhein, the next section to the north, there was much more undulation. Castles were perched on every hill with vineyards below and quaint towns in every valley. This section of the Rhine is a UNESCO world heritage site and will soon be overrun with tourists as summer nears.
We checked into our hotel and then went for a walk in the vineyards above Bacharach, up to the old Posten watchtower closest to the river and as far up the terraced vineyard path as we could find. From there we got great views of the river, the town, and the vineyards, getting an even greater impression for how steep the hills were.
Following our brief hike, we got dinner, again enjoying asparagus soup, filet of trout with roasted almonds, and chicken in mushroom sauce with spongy noodle-like potatoes. Alongside the meal, we tried a bottle of Karl Heidrich's Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir) rose, which came from the next field over from where we'd been walking: Bacharacher Wolfshole. I'd seen his name marked on many of the posts at the end of each row of vines, so we decided to try some of his wine. I'd say both wine and food were quite excellent, if not quite as memorable as the night previous.
We walked around a little bit more after dinner, stopping into the more expensive and highly rated restaurant in town just for dessert, which struck me as similar in quality to our meal. Then we got to bed early, tired from a long day with several more to go.
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