Hessen's Bergstrasse

Let’s jump straight to Hessen’s Bergstrasse. The Romans introduced grapes here and called the region between the Rhein and Odenwald ‘Strata Montana’ – Mountain Route. Actually more hills than mountains the Bergstrasse runs North-South between Darmstadt and Heidelberg on the east side of the Rhine.

The Bergstrasse, is often referred to as the German Riviera and, along with the shores of Lake Constance (Bodensee), gets the most sunshine in Germany. The Bergstrasse is the smallest wine region in Germany and therefore comparatively unknown. But it produces excellent wines and, with the advance of Global Warming, now produces some splendid reds.

Riesling
My favourite is Riesling from Schönberger Herrenwingert. The winegrowing region of Mainz took over 2 hectares in 1923 from the counts of Erbach-Schönberg. Since 1953 the vineyard, now 11 hectares, has been solely owned by the Bensheim State Vineyard (Bensheimer Staatsweingut). It now grows 60% Riesling and the rest is Müller-Thurgau and Weißburgunder. (More about grape varieties in a later posting – and how to pronounce those umlauts!). The wine is fruity and racy (Rassig in German). It has a distinctive acidity which delivers a lusty, steely wine.

Recipe
Try this starter recipe with a young, chilled Herrenwingert.

Ingredients: Cream Goat’s Cheese, tin of apricots, salt, pepper, sprigs of rosemary, an untreated (bio) lemon, clove of garlic, fresh ginger, olive oil (2 tablespoons), sugar.

Warm the oil and the sugar together. Drain and dice the apricots and add them. Season with salt and pepper. Add the whole, pealed garlic and a similar sized cube of fresh ginger. Add the juice of half a lemon. Let the whole mixture caramelise. Remove the garlic and ginger. Add lemon peal zest.

Let it cool and fill into serving glasses. Mix the the cheese to a creamy consistancy and add a dollop on to each serving. Decorate with rosemary.

Guten Appetit.