Bernhard-Räder Weinlese in Flomborn (11 Okt 2008)

Today is my Happiest Day(for now...)!
I went for Grape Harvesting with the Bernhard-Räder Familie, many thanks to Andreas who made the connection for me by calling almost all Weinguts in Osthofen region!!!
Simone, Philipp, Ulla, Rüdiger & Anna(Ref: Gp Foto 1) were my warm hosts for the event.

We made our way to the cold foggy weinberg at about 930am. We started with the Riesling Trauben (Weiß), ein pause(with Neuer wein of course!), then the Spätburgunder (Rot). When I started with cutting the Rot Trauben, I could smell the strong aroma of red wein, gosh, I thought I was hallucinating lor! Luckily Ulla later confirmed with me that yes, these red grapes have stronger aroma than normal supermarkt grapes, and indeed, then smelled like red wein!!! (Heng, I tot I was drunk at 11am lor...)
Then it was 12pm and we headed back to the Weinbau for Mittagessen prepared by the daughter, Anna. After a hearty meal with plenty of wein, we headed out to the fields again. Ever thought of a drunkard harvesting grapes? I was the one. Luckily I recovered quickly enough to start work again...haha. We harvested the Sauvignon Trauben (Rot). And out work ended early at 3pm. I brought back some Silvaner Trauben(Weiß) coz they are nicer to be eaten, not made into wein...We headed back for a small celebration with more wein. I swear I really had too much today...

After the rest of the workers went home, Ulla & Rüdiger showed me around the weinbau, the fermentation place was part of an old fortress(HaHa, really old yeah), their Veggi-garden, their Gästhaus, and their Wein Appreciation Rooms... Of course, nothing will be complete without a taste of all the weins they make. I think I had about 10 different glasses of wein. Almost complete intoxication, but it was fun learning the type of grapes to produce the Trocken, Halbtrocken, Lieblich..etc(sorry, cant remember all!) My favorite was the Spätburgunder blanc de noirs(One of the weins of Kollektion Philipp). It is very special. It is a white wein made from red grapes, amazing right, that's why it is called blanc de noirs (white of blacks). Production: With just 1st pressing of the Spätburgunder trauben, the juice is white and it fermented into wieß wein. This process is difficult to control, thus, the wein is more expensive than other weins. Philipp showed me the process to make the 'white juice' from the Spätburgunder we harvested earlier in the morning.
It had been a wonderful day, filled with laughter (meine Deutsch is niche so gut, but nevertheless, they enjoyed talking to me, though I take long times to understand wat they are asking me....) and really plenty of wein!!!

I am really greatful to Andreas, who came to fetch me from Worms Hbf at 830am, drove me to Flomborn, and later, send me back to Worms Hbf :)