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Our Show-Stopping German Wine Tour…


German Pinot Noir 
Road Tour 

Fall, 2015

 
Are you up for a European wine tour with a new twist? Germany’s Rieslings have gone cult. And German Reds are close behind. Pinot Noirs from Germany are in break-out mode. They’re rocking the competition at international blind tastings and setting the cognoscenti abuzz. Join us for a wine tour with a new vibe and see what’s behind Germany’s Pinot Revolution.
 

Germany's Wine Country

Germany’s Wine Country

Wine is about discovery, enjoyment and passion! You’ll experience all three on this wine tour as you swirl, sniff and taste your way through Franconia, the Pfalz, the Rhine area, the Black Forest and southern Baden. You’ll be in the heart of German wine country, exploring of the German Pinot Trail, one of Europe’s truly outstanding but least known wine routes.

Savor Germany’s expressive Pinots and other reds right where they’re made. Discover the hidden slopes and secret cellars, meet the winemakers, and experience Germany’s culinary explosion.

A Wine Tour for Generation Wine and all Wine Lovers

Not your mother’s wine. Not your mother’s kind of wine tour. We’ve retooled the genteel white-glove European wine tour of years past. Our version is a hands-on wine safari with a new vibe. It’s geared to the interests and passions of Generation Wine, adventurous wine fans who transcend age and can be from 19 to 90. It’s designed to appeal to anyone who loves wine and loves to experience it fully.

German wine country tour  Heart of Europe Tours

The Experience


Wine in Context

Generation Wine and today’s wine lovers like hands-on. They love the taste and the experience of wine. They love wine with food. They recognize quality when they taste it. They love to engage and connect with people over wine.

You may be a skeptic. You may already know and love German wines. Or they may be entirely new to you… Regardless, the Pinot Road Trip will be revelatory.

On this wine tasting tour, you’ll hang with some of Europe’s most passionate winemakers. Hike their hills, squat in their cellars, hear their stories, pick their brains, meet their families and see what makes them tick. You’ll meet them all… Traditionalists whose families have been making wine for centuries… Accomplished growers who are at the top of their game… Undiscovered garagistes who are turning out great wines in small batches… Up-and-coming artisanal vintners who are about to hit stride, and others.

Highlights of the Pinot Wine TourIR_03039

  • Eight nights/Nine days
  • Fully guided
  • Coach with private driver during the entire trip
  • Airport transfers
  • Comfortable regional inns and boutique hotels, including a 14th-century castle
  • Eleven meals (Eight breakfasts and three dinners)
  • All tastings, cellar tours and meetings with winemakers
  • Private tour of Speyer’s Medieval Jewish Quarter and Speyer Cathedral
  • Tour of Freiburg Cathedral
  • Private cooking session – Franconian cuisine

  • Two private meals spotlighting regional specialties
  • Visit to artisanal cheesemaker, farm and private distillery in the Black Forest

The price is $2999.00, based on double occupancy. Single rooms are available for a supplement of $360. Would you like to share a double room with someone? Let us know when you reserve the tour and we’ll look for a simpatico fellow traveler who would like to share.

Accommodations for your last night are included so you don’t have to scramble to find a place to stay or worry about getting to the airport in the morning. All estate visits, meetings with winegrowers and tastings are private events, arranged solely for our group, and they are included in the price of the tour.

Well Wined

You’ll sample some of the best of the top-tier VDP Pinot Noirs as well as other break-out Pinots, plus other reds including Lemberger, Acolon, Portugieser and additional specialties. You’ll meet Germany’s new freestylers who are energizing the world of wine. Estate visits include Friedrich Becker, Rudolf Fürst, the Thörle Family, Ziereisen Family, Möbitz and many more.

ZiereisenHP+EdelMany of the winemakers we’re highlighting were selected by the leading German wine critic in the United States, David Schildknecht, much acclaimed for his insightful, in-depth reviews for The Wine Advocate, which is published by Robert Parker and read around the globe.

 

Well Dined
Making Sausage

Gastronomic Geeks, Slow Foodies and Locavores will be in good hands on the trip. Where wine is, food can’t be far behind, and German wine is very food-friendly. The Road Tour will pull back the curtain so you can see close up how regional sourcing works and experience local food where it’s made.

The Beer-and-Bratwurst stereotype about German cuisine still holds sway — no slight intended: Germany has brilliant Beer and Bratwurst! –, but German food is very diverse andschlachtfest cooking Treasures of Europe Tours much more expansive. Regional sourcing and local traditions define German cuisine, much more than in the United States. Food is a cultural treasure, and people take it very seriously. The Slow Food movement is active and growing in Germany. There’s a natural affinity between food activists and wine-lovers, which is benefitting both.

Guess Who’s Cooking Tonight…

Road Tour Foodie Alert… Two members of the local Landfrauenverband (Association of Country Women) are hosting an afternoon of Black Forest Awesomeness for the Road Tour.

It will start with a visit to a 200-year-old farm and artisanal distillery, continue with an inside look at an cottage cheesemaking operation (samples included), and end with a private farm meal based on native products.  One of the two ladies was featured as a star home cook on Germany’s TV show for foodies, Land und Lecker.

Wein und Schwein… For a second Road Tour food event, we’ve had the great good fortune to be able to track down an award-winning butcher and home cook in the Landau region. They’ll introduce us to Saumagen, the soulful national dish of the Pfalz, which is a heavy hitter in the pantheon of nose-to-tail eating.

Roadsters will have an opportunity to sample this specialty at a private gathering arranged as part of the tour while we’re in the Landau area. Saumagen is prepared in a pig’s stomach. It’s the sort of specialty that sparks defiant regional patriotism and awakens fierce loyalty among its fans. It drives a much-loved  International Saumagen Contest, a biennial take-no-prisoners affair, where Saumagen dreams come true for a handful of cooks whose dishes are selected as the best.

Among those whose dreams came true at the last competition are our chef-hosts, Gertrud Wind (winner in the home-cooked Saumagen category) and master butcher Peter Gütermann (winner in the professional butchers’ Saumagen category). Gertrud and Peter will present their specialties in person and you’ll have an opportunity to find out what makes this dish so great.

HuberEstateredStaying Social…

Do your friends rely on you to scout out new finds and let them know what you think of the wines you try? Are you a  blogger, opinion-maker or foodie with a following?

Stay in touch with the folks back home while you’re on the road and light up the blogosphere, Facebook or Twitter with updates from the Salwey Estate harvest www.treasuresofeuropetours.comwine trail! Your public will love hearing about your adventures. You can post directly from German wine country and let your friends know who you’re meeting, what wines you’re tasting and what’s on your plate. Grab some great photos to include. Share your impressions and reviews and help your friends connect with your experiences.

 

 

 

German Pinot Noir Road Tour, Fall 2015 

Your Tour Itinerary

 

Day 1  Mainz, Mainz Area and the Rhineland-Palatinate

Visit to Thörle Wine Estate in Rheinhessen. Private walking tour of the Medieval town wall in Flörsheim.

Day 2  The Wine Capitol Mainz, Rheinhessen and the Franconian Wine Trail

Welcome and workshop at the German Wine Institute in Mainz. Visit to the Prince Castell Wine Estate, Roth Winery and Max Müller cellars in Franconia. Get to know Franconia’s culinary traditions and food up close and personal with a private cooking lesson at the Müller Estate in Volkach.

Day 3  Würzburg, Northern Franconia and the Red Wine Trail in Mainfranken

Reception at the Franconia Vintners’ Association and meeting with Franconia’s reigning Wine Queen. Private tour of the Franconian wine capitol, Würzburg. Visit Juliusspital Wine Estate. Meeting with Rudolf Fürst and tour of his cellars. Visit to Paul und Sebastian Fürst Estate, the Stich Winery and the Klingenberg Wine Estate (Benedikt Baltes).

Day 4  Rheinhessen Wine Country and the Pfalz

Tour of P. J. Valckenberg, one of Germany’s oldest negociants, and the historic Liebfrauenstift Estate on the banks of the Rhine in Worms, hosted by the owner. Visit to the Gutzler Family Estate in the village of Gundheim. Special guided tour of the Speyer Cathedral and the Medieval Jewish settlement in Speyer. Private Saumagen dinner in the Pfalz hosted by the winners of the International Saumagen Festival.

Day 5  The Southern Pfalz Wine Road and the German-French Border Region

Stefan Meyer Estate in the wine village of Rhodt, Georg Nägele Chateau Winery, Friedrich Becker Winery, plus the wines of the „Five Friends,“ a confraternity of pioneering growers (Münzberg, Siegrist, Wehrheim, Rebholz and Becker).

Day 6  Black Forest, the Ortenau, Kinzig Valley and Freiburg

Private visit to a remote farm distillery and artisanal cheesemaker in a Black Forest valley. Private farm meal hosted by one of Baden’s top cooks.  Guided tour of the Freiburg Münster (Cathedral). Discussion with wine pioneer Henrik Möbitz and tasting.

Day 7 Freiburg and the Breisgau Area

Experience Freiburg with its rushing streamlets and stunning Old City. Enderle & Moll Estate, Shelter Winery, Huber Wine Estate, Reinhold Cornelia Schneider Estate.

Day 8  Southern Baden and the German-Swiss Borderlands

Salwey Winery, Holger Koch Estate, Ziereisen Family Estate, Wassmer Estate

Day 9

Return

Space is limited and we can only accommodate a small group on the German Pinot Road Tour. To get on the list, use the Reserve button. We’ll alert you when the dates are finalized.

Click on the button below, use the reservation form to let us know you’re interested and click “Send.”

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