Geisenheim University classes!

Today, I went back to school! Geisenheim is where most of the Enology degrees in Germany originate, and we sat through a long and interesting day full of seminars. But first, we took a bus ride with the German Wine Queen (left) and the Rheingau Wine Queen (right)

I want one of these! Awesome large wine chiller with the white wines we are to taste during the seminars.

I loved this seminar! Jeannie Cho Lee, the only female Master of Wine in Asia, led a seminar on pairing German Wine with Asian food. I thought she was amazing. I took so many notes that I'll actually follow this up with a post devoted to the topic.

Professor Schultz, the Director of the University, gave us a talk on some of the advancements that they have been working on to improve the industry for the country. They've got a project right now to see how grapes will react to the increased C02 in the air with global warming. It's a FACE system (Free Air C02 Enrichment) can you see the picture on the top left? the FACE spikes surround a small patch of vines.


They are also developing robots to harvest grapes on the slopes too steep to use a tractor--which is a lot of them. It's becoming increasingly difficult to find people who want to do this terribly difficult work. The robot looks like a drum with spikes to dig into the ground. He had a great point: "the only way to maintain heritage is to use technology." The University was founded in 1872!)
One heck of a lunch buffet in the cafeteria!

Billy Wagner, a sommelier from Rutz Weinbar in Berlin, guided us through 16 different Pinot Blancs, Pinot Noirs, and Pinot Gris. He's also an expert on Riesling--his wine list has over 400!

This was a fun 6 hours of seminars!
Look for some info to come from the VDP classification chat.
- Emily Garrison, Shiraz Fine Wine & Gourmet

Location:Rheingau, Germany