Not a good night of sleep, but Lana had another long sleep. Woke up to an overcast sky with the forecast for rain. We have a 14:00 appointment at a winery located near Brixen/Bressanone. It is only about 62 km from San Cassiano, but at least an hour drive according to Google Maps. Note that Brixen is located in the Alto Adige wine area and is very much German speaking. Bressanone is the Italian name.
Village of San Cassiano. Mount Lagazuoi behind the village. Online picture.
View from our bedroom window/skylight this morning. Beautiful blue sky as you can see so the weather forecast was wrong again!
At the gas station. Plastic gloves are provided for you when you gas up. No worries about gas on your hand/fumes smell as you throw the glove away in the garbage. BTW, we paid 1.649 Euro for a litre of gas. We started to fill up, but a fellow showed up and did everything for us inclusive of processing our credit card beside the pump.
During our drive we needed to stop for cows crossing the road. We are in farming country.
Damn cows don't walk too fast. Mr Impatient. :-)
As mentioned earlier, it is not a long drive in terms of mileage or as the crow flies, but it is another super twisty and winding road through the countryside and between mountains and in valleys. A fair amount of traffic and of course if you get caught behind trucks or farm equipment on the road or slow/careful drivers it is even longer of a drive.
Given our rental car contract has only Randy as the driver it means Lana has to tolerate the twisty roads. She is a good navigator with our Garmin GPS unit in her lap. There were a couple of times during the driving where the unit lost the satellite so it stopped working, but overall it did pretty well all day. In Europe, you have to have a GPS, otherwise you need a fantastic map and patience with getting lost.
Observations of this part of the drive/country are so many fields of very tall corn. It must be close to harvest time. This road had numerous tunnels through the mountains and some of the tunnels are quite long. As we near Brixen, many orchards especially of apple trees. The very wide river is a very beautiful colour of green. Fed directly from the Alpine mountains. It takes us at least 75 minutes to make it to our first destination.
Lana's panoramic camera shot of Brixen/Bressanone. A little warped but gives you an idea of this city in the valley between two steep mountain ranges.
I had read about a traditional Weinstuben that are found in the mountains around Brixen called Nussbaumer Guggerhof (see pic below). It serves lunch and dinner. When we arrived, courtesy of our Garmin GPS, we were told they were closed Mondays and Tuesdays. They were cooking something though for each other and it smelled delicious. The girl gave us the name of a similar establishment that was open today for lunch and dinner.
The recommendation from the girl was Walderhof Hofschenke located in nearby village of Naz/Natz/Schabes. Not too far from her place and she gave us the address. We programmed our GPS. We got the second last parking spot and on arrival inside told there "were no tables for an hour". Some locals showed up within seconds of us and went into a separate room moved around some tables and voila they were seated. We found a table outside that was unoccupied against the road, but the hostess said we wouldn't get served for an hour as they were that busy. Oh well, they were super busy as there were no available tables. Now we need to find another place for lunch.
As we were driving towards Brixen, very quickly we did luck upon a lunch destination at Köferehof Weingut Restaurant. It was further down the hill and their parking lot was packed. As we pulled in another parked vehicle had its reverse lights on so we waited and then we had their parking spot. Parking karma!!! Lana has excellent parking karma. This is a Weingut that has a restaurant. When we arrive at the restaurant, there are no tables inside so we take a table on their patio. I choose a chair in the sun and Lana finds a shady spot.
The place is full of locals which is always a good sign. The downside is we may not receive the same level of service or attention. Nobody speaks English and the dominant language appears to be German, but not 'high German'. It is a dialect of German so not easy for Lana to pick up the language especially when they speak quickly. But everyone understands the German that Lana speaks--she just can't understand the dialect they are speaking. We are good at ordering food and enough German to be understood in the restaurants. Plus, it is more of an adventure.
Our table on the patio overlooks the valley below that contains the city of Brixen. The Weingut's vineyard surrounds us. The sun is warming and the views spectacular. So relaxing and no rush to get anywhere. We do wait longer for our food than the other tables around us, but given how quickly the food comes it is no problem. There is an occasional pesky wasp that wants to use me as a landing spot. This is one of those meals that is enjoyable and memorable given the ambience and circumstances. Total bill is 26.80 Euros.
Randy's Gemischte Kalte Platte (cold mixed plate). Three different types of cheese. At least six different cured meats. Pickles and a tomato. Very simple lunch yet flavourful and filling. Lana noticed the large curl of butter in the middle and moves it off the platter before I mistaken it for some type of cheese and start eating it on it's own. It does look kinda like cheese though! I ordered a glass of Sylvaner wine which is a common local grape. This bottle was produced by the Weingut we were eating at. Very refreshing wine with some depth.
Common bread plate placed on your table at most restaurants. Rye bread, white bread, white bun, breadsticks and the crispy and anise flavoured local bread Schüttelbrot (bread on the right). We love European bread! Crispy on the outside, soft and tasty on the inside! Another observation is pretty much everywhere we eat they serve the Plose brand of sparking or still water. BTW, nobody orders tap water.
Lana's lunch of Eistaler Tris (3 regional dumplings). The bright green dumpling is spinach. The lower left is a cheese dumpling which is fluffy, light and melt in your mouth goodness. The other dumplings on the right side were like ravioli's or pierogi's stuffed with arugula and sprinkled with parmesan cheese. Delicious with the melted butter. Then again, what isn't delicious with melted butter and parmesan cheese on top?
This was the sign for the Ladies restroom/bathroom. We are not sure what language this is? Ladin? Good they have a symbol above the sign!
We did make it to Weingut Kuenhof which was very highly rated in articles I had researched in advance of our trip. I had phoned earlier this morning and the son (Simon) spoke English and confirmed they would be around in the afternoon. We did have a 14:00 appointment at Weingut Taschlerhof, but the owner stood us up. We arrived and nobody there. I phoned him and texted him with no luck. We waited for at least 20 minutes and gave up. *Later in the afternoon the owner leaves a voice message and Lana speaks to him (in German) and he is apologetic. Fortunately, Weingut Kuenhof was just down the road. We had said we would drop by around 15:00, but we were there about 14:25.
We pulled up and the owner/winemaker Peter doesn't speak much English. We figure out where to park up the steep incline. We talk with Peter and his wife Brigitte with some degree of English and German. Eventually, their son Simon shows up to greet us and take us to their small wine tasting room. We had been warned during our phone call earlier that morning they were SOLD OUT of all their wine except for some 2016 Sylvaner. We wanted to try at least that wine as it is not common to find in Canada or the USA. Simon advises that we are in luck as one of their buyers had just cancelled a small order of their 2016 Grüner Veltliner (pronounced by Simon as felt--LEE-ner versus our english pronunciation VELT-liner) so we could taste this wine and there might be an opportunity to purchase some bottles.
Simon Pliger (winemaking son of the owners and graduate of a famous German winemaking school) with Lana. Simon originally went to school to become an electrician after finishing high school but switched to wine making school after being encouraged by his father.
Randy & Lana getting ready for the wine tasting! Very cozy and casual nook for the tasting. As you can see I have my sunglasses. Still a warm and blue sky/sunny day in the mid-afternoon. I have my notebook ready to help my memory later for the blog. Trust me - my memory is not that good. ;-)
Simon speaks very good English and is quite personable. Our interactions and time spent remind us of our visits to the Weinguts in the German Mosel region last September. Simon is equally passionate about winemaking and the wine itself. We learn a number of facts/philosophies about their winery:
- Own 6 1/2 hectares of vineyards. Their vineyards are located on both sides of the river below and are extremely steep terraced terrain much like the Mosel valley in Germany and the Douro valley in Portugal.
- Family-owned for 200 years and an active winery for 800 years.
- Used screw caps since 2007. Reasoning is the wine stays fresher than cork and is more consistent in the bottle. Plus, use less sulfur because zero air gains access to the wine unlike corked bottles.
- #1 winemaking philosophy is the wine is made in the vineyards! No machinery is used on the grapes and even the winemaking process relies on gravity to move the product.
- All grapes are hand-picked by experienced pickers so they ensure the best grapes are used.
- Not interested in quantity. Quality is their #1 goal.
- Terraced steep slopes basically ensure only hand-picking.
- Hand-pruning only. He showed us their equipment and working on their steep slopes must be time consuming and physically difficult. That takes a real commitment from the winemakers.
- Biodynamic practices in the vineyard.
- Bottle their grape juice/wine usually in April. Best to drink their wines after a year in the bottle and up to two years in the bottle. That is when they are at their peak. You can age the wine longer if you like.
- The 2016 Einsacktler Veltliner is 13% alcohol volume and is excellent!
- The 2016 Sylvaner is at 13.5% alcohol volume and equally delicious.
- Overall the 2016 vintage was a "good" year, but not a great year by their standards. The weather plays the largest role in quality of each vintage. The acidity and sugar levels were pretty good for 2016.
- On average they produce around 40,000 bottles per year. They could produce many more, but this would sacrifice on quality.
On a more personal level Simon shares with us that his number one hobby is surfing. Pretty unique given we are not near any oceans. The river below has the ability to surf using bungie cords against a bridge. He shows us a video and indeed they are surfing on the river in wetsuits and kind of like wake boarding behind a power boat. He is eager to travel to the west coast USA for some surfing and we talked about the quality of the Tofino surfing--which Simon had heard about. If he decides to come North he will give us a call.
We purchase four bottles of the Veltliner and three bottles of the Sylvaner. He packs six of the bottles in a cardboard case where the bottles lie flat. Plus, we get a tour of their cellar and their wine making equipment. Probably the cleanest winery we have every been in! Their cellar is kept at an even 14 degrees Celsius the entire year. The new cellar is located right underneath part of their vineyard.
Weingut Kuenhof uses 1,600 litre capacity Acacia Wood barrels. They use only Acacia wooden barrels for their wine as it does not impart much taste into the wine. They age 20% of their wine in the wood and 80% in stainless steel.
Before we leave we ask Simon for recommendations on wineries to try in the Alto Adige area. He checks off some wineries near Brixen and some wineries near Bolzano where we hope to visit tomorrow. I make some phone calls and we do find one winery open for business in the nearby village of Villanders/Villandro. Off we go not realizing how difficult it will be to find Weingut Röckhof. We program our GPS, but it doesn't accept the exact address. That should have been our red flag.
To give you an example of just how twisty the roads are here up the mountains. This is all uphill and extremely steep with guard rails everywhere. If you make a wrong turn you could plunge to your death very quickly.
We keep on driving up the steep incline on the very twisty road with some hairpin turns. Lana tries to tell me in a advance when hairpin turns are coming up which is very helpful. The GPS tells us the winery is up ahead and we believe it! We come upon a mother with two young kids and ask for directions. Very limited English, but we do figure out the Weingut is much farther down the hill and it does exist. Quite an adventure to find the winery and one of the owners is indeed available.
Weingut Röckhof (village of Villanders) recommended by Simon Pliger. As you can see it is a house located on a steep hillside. Pic from online source. Our host did not speak one word of english, but Lana did another great job of speaking German so she could translate for me. No pictures as it was a pretty quick visit and the room we were sitting in was pretty dark. 
From your left to right and all 2016 vintages = Muller Thurgau, Grüner Veltliner, Riesling & a Cuvee (blend of Gewürztraminer & Sylvaner & Rulander). Each wine are a dry style especially given their relatively high alcohol content at 13 or 13.5%. We purchased a bottle of the Grüner Veltliner and the Cuvee for 10 Euro each. Their wines were very good.
From your left to right and all 2016 vintages = Muller Thurgau, Grüner Veltliner, Riesling & a Cuvee (blend of Gewürztraminer & Sylvaner & Rulander). Each wine are a dry style especially given their relatively high alcohol content at 13 or 13.5%. We purchased a bottle of the Grüner Veltliner and the Cuvee for 10 Euro each. Their wines were very good.
Our idea was to try to get to Klosterladen Enoteca located in the Stift Neustift area (Abbazia di Novacella) of Brixen. It is now overcast skies and nearing 18:00. The weather is now much cooler so need to put something over top our shirts. By the time we arrive it is close to closing so we walk around the premises. It is a large complex and a very old Abbey. We figure to return to the restaurant that was too busy for us for lunch earlier and have dinner. It is on the way towards San Cassiano as well. Neither of us are too hungry though. The menu is in German and Italian. While many tables are occupied it is not as busy as lunch. It appears to be mainly locals eating.
Dinner at Walderhof Hofschenke.
Lana's dinner of Kürbiscremsuppe mit gerösteten Kernen. Basically, pumpkin soup. It was hot and tasty and the sprinkle of toasted pumpkin seeds on top was a nice addition.
Also, we each had a Krautsalat. This is shredded cabbage with oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, caraway seed and chives that was a little tart for my taste. It is essentially sauerkraut before the cabbage completely wilts. Lana enjoyed it but said there's only so much shredded cabbage one can eat at a time.
The drive back to San Cassiano was about 70 minutes in the dark. We returned on the same route that we took to get to Brixen. On the main road there was lots of traffic and in particular one large truck created a following line made up of dozens of cars. When we turned off towards our destination there was nobody in front of me, but the road was slippery from previous rains and with constant turns, slowing down and speeding up. On a couple of sections there were some wicked hairpin turns. While the distance isn't long the road conditions make it slow progress.
These roads have a lot of motorcyclists zipping around corners and passing vehicles in very daring maneuvers. There are guard rails on many of the corners and against the rivers/streams. You really have to be aware at all times driving these roads as it is so twisty. The hairpin turns are quite something and require some degree of driving ability.
We finally arrive back in San Cassiano sometime after 20:00. I am super exhausted, but get some work done on our blog. I/we will finish the next morning. We purchased nine (9) bottles of wine today to bring our grand total to date at ten (10) bottles. We are in bed with lights out around 21:20 tonight.
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