Where was she? Rottgen, Mosel!
Where was she? It turns out that she is Beate Knebel and she was gesticulating over the Röttgen vineyard on the banks of the lower Mosel. Beautiful, eh? Click on the photo above to see more satellite imagery of the area. The arrow is actually the address of the Knebel winery but Beate was a little down river (to the right) in the photo.
I dropped by Crush Wine Co last week and bought a bottle of her Winninger Hamm Kabinett 05 Riesling (about $22, find this wine). I spoke with Stephen Bitterolf, reader of this site and a wine buyer at the store, and he later sent me the pic from his recent trip there. I tried the wine at home and found the wine to have an alluring nose of tropical fruits and a fantastic balance between sweetness and acidity, and a hugely pleasurable and lingering finish. Great stuff. In fact, it would be my choice if I had to confront some sweet sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving. Sweet vs. Sweet, I find, generally tones down sweet.
So congratulations to Alice Feiring! She was the first commenter and the first to guess correctly, thus winning a link. Many other correct guessers included: Andrea Gori, Greg Moore (who nailed it down to the vineyard town), Debbie (who said she had been there too), and Karl Storchmann. Way to go!
On November 12th, 2007 at 5:01 pm ,Stephen Bitterolf wrote:
While Alice was keen to pick out the Mosel, I have to say Greg’s picking out the EXACT vineyard is pretty remarkable!!! Vineyards like Winninger Uhlen, or Bremmer Calmont a bit upstream, are somewhat recognizable because of their extreme slopes and various landmarks – but Winninger Rottgen? Wow. I have to ask: Greg, how’d you know!?
On November 12th, 2007 at 5:06 pm ,Stephen Bitterolf wrote:
Scratch that – I just reread Greg’s comments and he mentions Winningen and Koblenz, but not Rottgen specifically. Fair enough. Still pretty miraculous though… Greg: Did you recognize Beate?
On November 13th, 2007 at 10:17 am ,Dr. Vino wrote:
Whoops! Just corrected to town, not vineyard.
On November 13th, 2007 at 11:01 am ,Greg Moore wrote:
And they pronouce it “Rettchen.” I’ve never met Beate, but I’m in Winningen every year.