Back to Germany again
My good friend Rudiger provided me some excellent advice – namely to visit the German town of Deidesheim for some wine walking and wine tasting.
Deidesheim is a town in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with some 3,700 inhabitants (see map below).
The name Deidesheim had its first documentary mention in 699. From 770 onwards, there is proof of wine growing here. And today, the most important industries are tourism and wine growing.
These industries have obviously made the town’s inhabitants very rich, as it is an extraordinarily beautiful town.
As I was walking from the train station through the town I stumbled into the beautiful terrace restaurant of the Hotel Deidesheimer Hof. Apparently, this restaurant was a favourite of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
And as I search for the perfect sauerkraut (choucroute in French), I think that I may have found it at the Hotel Deidesheimer Hof. Simply delicious, with a glass of fine riesling, of course!
As is the case for most wine towns, the vineyards climb up a hill slope behind the town. Very beautiful, especially the view back over the town.
As I was walking up the hill, I bumped into some new friends, Stefan and his family, who were celebrating their mother’s birthday by a wine tasting trek through the vines.
But this was no simple wine tasting picnic. They had a list of about eight wines to taste, along with some cheese. What’s more they had a wine expert to explain the wines. And for each wine they tasted, they moved to a different part of the vineyards.
Naturally, I could not resist their invitation to join them for a small part of their trek.
During our conversation, I asked for their thoughts on Germany’s new Chancellor, Olaf Scholz. I noted that the Anglo-Saxon media was somewhat critical, considering him weak.
My friends were more nuanced in their appreciation of Scholz. True, he does not have a mediatic personality. But he is a deep thinker who does not rush into decisions. And he is leading Germany at a very difficult and complex moment in modern history.
While Angela Merkel may be revered, it is now clear that she made some mistakes, such as the decision to close up Germany’s nuclear power industry.
Wine is indeed a wonderful vehicle for developing new friendships. As I was leaving, they told me to tell the French that Germans are nice people!
Logistics