German supermarkets, even if the outside looks incredible cheap, can have some pretty nice wines on their shelves.

When I was in Nürnberg last year, I found a very good Spanish wine in the Norma supermarket, the Finca Carrascal D.O.P. Cariñena. Get it when you visit Germany!



In Germany, the wine is also available via Norma's online shop .

Wanneer je in Mannheim bent, kan ik je Italiaans restaurant Da Pepe echt aanraden. Ze hebben hele goede Siciliaanse wijnen en zeer lekker eten. Wat wij daar erg graag eten is hun tarbot. Deze wordt aan je tafel gefileerd en geserveerd. Echt zalig.
Aan de achterkant hebben ze een zonverlicht terras waar je heerlijk buiten kan eten - maar beter geen vis, dan wordt je aangevallen door allerlei vliegend tuig. Tenzij dat je niet stoort, natuurlijk.
Het restaurant bevind zich op loopafstand van Best Western hotel Steubenhof, en let op: je kan er betalen met creditcard of cash - pinnen kan niet. Een geldautomaat vindt je aan de overkant van de straat.

When one is in Mannheim, I can really recommend Italian restaurant Da Pepe. They serve some really fine Sicilian wines and very good and tasty food. What we like especially is their turbot. It is filleted and served at your table. Really superb.
They have a sunlit terrace at the back where one can delightfully sit and eat outside - but better no fish, than you are attacked by all sorts of flying rabble. Unless that doesn’t disturb you.
The restaurant is on walking distance from Best Western hotel Steubenhof, and note: you can either pay per credit card, German bank card or cash: you can find a money dispenser / ATM across the street.


 

Ik was weer bij onze huis-leverancier van Duitse wijn, het Franger Weingut, om voor het komende jaar wat op voorraad te hebben en toevallig was hij dat weekeinde het afvullen van de witte 2014er wijnen aan het voorbereiden. Deze keer heeft hij gebruik gemaakt van een mobiele afvulmachine (zie foto). Dat is echt bijzonder - deze heer verhuurt zichzelf met machine en al en heeft het hele jaar door werk. Het is echt een geniale machine: flessen handmatig invoeren, de flessen worden gereinigd, vervolgens gevuld, dan de schroefdop erop en afgevoerd waar men ze handmatig moet verwijderen en in kratten plaatsen. 10.000 liter in een uurtje of twee.


 

I got this wine from an old friend. I must really say that this is a very, very nice wine! When I looked up the Las Moras winery on the internet, it turned out they produce some of the best wines and also win various medals! So, if you can lay your hands on it, you certainly should take the opportunity and try it!

We had this wine during dinner in hotel-restaurant Koener, Clervaux. We were surprised that Luxembourg had such good wines.

Een echt heerlijke wijn uit Portugal.



Te koop bij de Jumbo en sommige Albert Heijn supermarkten.

Een hele lekkere, zeer aan te bevelen wijn.



Te koop bij Jumbo supermarkten voor een mooie prijs.

Looking for a superb, organic port wine? I really can recommend this one! More about this company, which wins medal after medal since moving to organic growing of plants in 1994.

A few weeks ago, while shopping at ALDI in my hometown, I came across this wine. Lucky for them I was in a good mood and spend €12 on this wine, just this once.

Well, turns out it was a very good wine!

But, not worth the price. I have had similar quality for just about €8 a bottle. Now I am waiting until the last ones of their stock get a yellow sticker with a reduced price - maybe then this wine gets interesting to buy again.

If you can get it for a reasonable price, I suggest you try it!

I came across this wine, made from organically grown grapes. Try it, you'll love it!

Another great find in our local Albert Heijn's wine section. It's amazing with what they come up with every now and then, outside their regular repeating collection of brands. I can highly recommend this Grand Vin de Bordeaux. One of the premier selection criteria for me, is the text 'Mis en bouteille au château' which is for me an indication that the wine has not been bought by a trader who blends it with who-knows-what from where. I don't say blends are bad, but in my experience one has a lesser chance for a wine that stays good for one or two days.

My son brought me a special wine from Spain as a present: a Monte Real Rioja Reserva from 2004! This one was 'all wood', qua taste. Rioja's in general are fine wines and I did not know that they can age that much. I can highly recommend this Rioja.

Ich hatte mal wieder die Chance bei Weingut Franger in der Pfalz ein par gute Weine abholen zu können! Sehr zu empfehlen!

La semaine dernière, mon oncle a poussé le vin ci-dessous dans mes mains. Après lire l'étiquette que la moitié, j'ai ouvert la bouteille la semaine dernière et je l'ai bu dans trois jours. C'est seulement plus tard que j'ai remarqué que l'étiquette à l'arrière a dit: 'temps à garder: 8 ans'. Peu importe, il est intéressant de toute façon d'apprendre ce que vous pourriez avoir gardé pendant 8 ans à venir, n'est-ce pas? Un vin très sec, mais douce et savoureuse. Peut-être ce vin aura un goût moins sèche après 5 ans ou plus. Très potable, déjà.

Ich war wieder mal in Deutschland und habe mir dann mal ein Paket Weine zusammenstellen lassen, die ich sehr empfehlen kann! Ich habe die Etiketten wieder abgeweicht und eingescannt.

Men kan toch zomaar iets leuks in de schappen van een Duitse supermarkt zien staan: een Grand Vin de Bordeaux, mis en bouteille au chateau!! en dat voor .... €2,50 per fles. Ahem. Jawel. Ik had de laatste twee!

De ALDI bij ons aan het einde van de straat had in februari bij de ingang een rekje met wijn staan, à 8 euro de fles. Nu, dat is een zeldzaamheid dus moest het wel iets speciaals zijn! We hebben er toen eentje gekocht om eens te kijken wat het was en zijn daarna onmiddellijk teruggegaan en hebben nog een stuk of wat flessen extra ingeslagen! Wat een heerlijke wijn - dat had ik niet verwacht, zo dichtbij! En wat goed van de ALDI om een regionaal product te promoten! Volgend jaar weer, toch, ALDI?

Last week a friend and colleague of mine took me to visit a vineyard in the region where we work. After a 30 minutes drive we arrived in a small village called Heuchelheim-Klingen where Weingut Alfred Franger & Sohn is long-standing. My friend knows these people for over 15 years already and we were very friendly welcomed. And after 15 minutes we were already in the wine-tasting room! I told the lady of the house that I lately find that most German wines all taste the same, in some way. She began to laugh and told me that the taste I meant, is typically for this region! So she poured a centimeter of a light red wine, and that was exactly the taste I meant. Then we went on to taste some other red wines - and oh man, was I surprised! Completely unexpected flavours of oak, lychee, smoked wood, vanilla and more.

Their son, who is also in the family-business, joined us and he is really full of enthusiasm and has a drive to make the best wines and trying out new ways of doing this! We were given the honor to taste a wine, bottled last weekend, made through a completely new and daring process. Well, even a week old, this young wine was really fantastic!

My friend had planned to go here anyway to buy a few boxes. But he was by car! I had come to work by train. So I just picked one bottle of each wine I was allowed to taste during our pleasant conversation and dragged a box home with me.

Being with real wine-lovers and talking about wine and such, is always very nice. So I list here some of their, all very good!, wines, in no particular order (but it might be alphabetic), and my favorites are marked:







Here are some photo's from their street and terrace:



A view of the village


The tasting room


The terrace outside

I recently got some German wines as a gift for my support in a warehousing project. Traditionally, we are quite French-wine oriented and never really gotten into the German wines. But Germany is also a very big wine-producing country and this is one of the great, prize-winning, wine houses - a family business: Weingut Schmitt's Kinder

The wines all taste very, very good. The white wines were fresh and sparkling, had a flowery taste and the red wine was light and refreshing.

I have made some pictures of the emptied bottles, and I know they deserve a better quality photo, but alas, lighting conditions weren't always very good.

	A red wine:
	And two white wines: