Late Update

Sorry, went to a German wine tasting Monday night and was nursing a banged-up elbow injury last night. Truth be told, both were kinda bad. The elbow, well, that's needed for the physical act of drinking, as for the German wine tasting, well that was just physical. The tasting, which in itself was comprised of fabulous wines, was held at the home of the German Ambassador in London, who thanked the press for promoting German wines. The wineries were provided by Iris Ellmann of the Wine Barn, who was quick to correct me on the correct pronunciation of her name.

As you know, I'm a big fan of German wines, but tastings open to the public are always going to get physical. Lots of pushing, lots of shoving, winemakers getting irritable as people grab at bottles and pour themselves whatever and how much. Women coated in perfume, men puffing on cigars. Some of the worst places to taste wines are at public tastings, where no one is really serious and no one takes you seriously.

The worst part for me came when the financial director of my company hit me over the head with his tasting notebook in front of Friedrich Becker, of Winery Friedrich Becker, arguably one of the more exciting producers from Germany.

Public humiliation 8.0.

Several tasting notes from many producers, but what's the point? Germany is filled with independent-house producers who make fine, elegant wines with low yield harvests and small batches. Everything in that formula works until you see the price. Some you could say, are well worth it, others you can't be so sure. The nature of German wines are arguable by nature and no matter how fine a setting, things will always get physical when push comes to shove.

More tasting notes next time.