We drove from Brussels to Wiesbaden, so we knew we didn’t want to do a ton of driving on our first full day, but it was a Sunday, and therefore not tons of options jumped out at us. But R had mentioned wanting a Rindwurst, and the best place for those is a Fest. A quick search showed me that Burgfest Gustavsburg was a short drive away.
We found a shady spot in the Fest seating and enjoyed our Wursts. It was very like we had never left. There were tons of drink options, including the expected beer and the less expected tequila bar hosted by “Grannies.” We scoped out the wine options, each starting with a 0.2l of Riesling Trocken. The heat and the excitement made those glasses go down all too quickly, so we made the choice to switch to Schorles to make sure we were hydrating as we went. Weißherbst was my gateway into loving rosé, and the ones being served at this fest were classic–delicate red fruit whispering in the background and acidity and minerals taking the lead.
That evening we wanted to go to R’s favorite Chinese restaurant, but we discovered they were closed for Urlaub. Luckily we found another one with a similar vibe and great looking menu. They also had a pretty great wine list. Being in Europe means that buying bottles of wine with dinner is not that expensive, and having so many local options was practically dizzying. You can find some Allendorf offerings in the US, particularly their “Save Water Drink Riesling,” but they don’t export a lot of their GG Hasensprung. Having a 6 year old bottle of very good Riesling is a bit of an adventure. Riesling has what is often referred to as a double bell in aging –it’s very good on release and then for a while, then drops off a cliff for a while, not bad, but not great, then the wine gets a second wind and can be amazing after another chunk of time. This one had not fallen off that cliff yet, and it was the perfect dry Riesling with our dinner.
The sun stays up so much later at that latitude, so there was plenty of time to stop by the Wiesbaden Marktplatz for gelato and a wander.
Wine Nerd (in progress) 