Postcards from Pfalz
Weinwanderweg Virgin
Stepping off the train in Freinsheim, deep in Germany’s Pfalz-Palatinate wine country, there was a shared buzz of giddy anticipation. We all knew why we were there: to walk, drink and make merry. It was one of those blue sky days that already put an optimistic filter on our experience of the world. And I found myself exclaiming: “this – this right here – THIS is my love language!”
By “this” I meant the Weinwanderweg – a wine walk that happens three times a year in Freinsheim (and there are similar wine festivals elsewhere in Germany), drawing thousands of people from neighbouring towns, regions and even countries. The other two are in blossomy spring (May) and the bleak mid-winter (January), but this was my first and it was harvest time. I was positively gleeful.
Only one slight hiccup, however: our merry group of ten humans and a very cuddly dog set off in precisely the opposite direction from a) all the other people, and b) the helpful signposts. Our lederhosen-clad leader decided to take us on a “short but scenic detour” to see Freinsheim’s gingerbread architecture and cobblestone streets, but it seemed we rather lost our way afterwards. Five kilometres later, when we finally hit the start of the wine walk (which was actually the end of the wine walk) we were hot and thirsty. And that was just the dog. The humans were starting to get hangry.
Thankfully, there cannot be a more suitable place to be hot and hangry and thirsting for a drink than a German wine walk. Everything was, as you might imagine, extremely well organised. There was no complicated tokens system or entry fees – just simple, old-school cash in exchange for wine. Tents selling chilled bottles of bubbles stood cheek by jowl to stands churning out bratwurst in mustardy buns. Endless rows of picnic tables sprawled alongside even more endless rows of vines, providing shade to those of us short enough to shelter beneath their leaves.
It's perhaps unsurprising that that first bottle of Sekt still stands out as one of the best I tasted that day (and believe me, I tasted a lot). Kassner-Simon’s 2022 Riesling Brut (pictured below) was subtly citrusy, cleanly mineral and eminently refreshing. It may have been 27 degrees by this point, but we had got this wine walk business nailed.
As the group’s resident wine geek, I started off with the best of intentions: clutching my little notebook and pen, quaintly attempting to take notes at each of the 17 stops along the route. Needless to say, I didn’t get very far before the Sekt started going to my head and that plan was replaced by another: give myself a good old-fashioned hangover. (Don’t judge me, wine people – you know you swallow more than you spit.)
Despite not remembering many of the wine particulars, I do recall this 2022 Rang Spätburgunder Trocken by Weinkeller Schick going down especially well. Undoubtedly made using semi-carbonic maceration (but in the best possible way), it was berry-juicy and smooth and insanely good value for money. I didn’t drink much of it as this wasn’t exactly red-wine weather, but I’d love to track it down for a second glass.
By the time the sun had started to reach a more manageable temperature, our booze-hound bellies were telling us it was time for a schnitzel. And so we wandered – our legs weaving, our skin on the verge of sunburnt, our voices a-chatter with stories that no longer quite made sense – back from whence we came. Weinwanderweg virgins no more.
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This post was essentially a personal story, others in the archive are more educational, and others might be described as opinion pieces. I quite like the flexibility that Substack gives me to write in whatever way I feel like about wine, but if you have ideas about what you’d like to read, please let me know in the comments!
Searching for wine online
If you’re looking for a particular bottle (as I was when writing about the Sekt and Spätburgunder in this article), a good place to start is Wine-Searcher.com: you type in the wine you’re looking for and it spouts back a list of places you can buy it from. Alternatively, if you’re just looking for a certain grape/region/style of wine, here’s a list of reliable wine websites that ship to several different countries:
Decántalo – international (throughout Europe, North America, Australia and some Asian countries)
Colaris – Benelux countries
8Wines – Europe-wide
Majestic – UK
Virgin Wines – UK
Naked Wines – UK and US
Total Wine – US
One Stop Wine Shop – US
Wine on Sale – US