The Highlight of the season:
Riesling Gala in Kloster Eberbach
Eberbach, November 10, 2019
What does it need to create the perfect Riesling party? People that love the wines. Ideally a lot of them. A high-end location. Ideally with a cool Riesling tradition. Great winemakers serving their best wines. Ideally all of the big names. And someone who serves great food. Ideally Michelin chefs. Done deal!
This is exactly what you can expect from the Riesling Gala. Winelovers? More than 700. Great location? The Dormitorium of the historical Kloster Eberbach. All the great winemakers from the Rheingau region plus their guest from all over Europe. Food? Six courses served by six chefs with altogether six Michelin stars.
Every year, the VDP Rheingau celebrates the “Glorreichen Rheingau Tage” (the Glorious Rheingau Days). And the absolute highlight and final of this 10-day-event is the Riesling Gala. Timing couldn’t be better: harvest is done, everyone is truly relaxed and happy about the stressful but successful vintage 2019. And here they come together to celebrate.
A table with 700 people
When you arrive at Kloster Eberbach you can already hear the horns of the brass band playing. You walk up the long driveway and the music gets louder. You walk around the corner and see hundreds of beautifully dressed people which immediately put you into a ceremonial and festive mode. It’s 11 am but everyone is already holding a glass of Riesling in their hands. Only the so-called Charta Rieslings of the Rheingau region are served.
The Dormitorium – which is in itself a place that you should visit – consists of three festively decorated tables. Endlessly long. Above that: The 800 year old archs of the Romanian style hall. Everything is beautifully illuminated. Like you entered a different world.
An old ritual keeps you in a time loop
At 12am the party starts. All the great winemakers walk in that will serve their best wines today. Some short speeches of Wilhelm Weil from winery Robert Weil and the current wine queen. And then an old ritual starts which hasn’t changed much over time. Two glasses of wines are served – from your host winery and from its guest winery. All high end, usually aged, often from the big bottle. A fantastic course is served. Everyone eats. The chef of the last course walks through and gets applauded. Everyone takes some minutes to mingle. And the procedure starts all over again.
We had the honor of being guests of Peter Jakob Kühn – one of our all time favorites from the region. Their guest winery was winery Tement – maker of the best Sauvignon Blondes from Austria. We were truly kept in a time loop and it is difficult how time flies by when you just enjoy life, have great conversations and enjoy fantastic food and wine. And at 6pm the party started…
I know what you did last night
Another personal highlight of the Riesling Gala weekend happened in a much smaller circle. We had the honor to be invited to a ten-year vertical tasting of Peter Jakob Kühn’s Schlehdorn Riesling which happened in the winery on the night before the Riesling Gala. The family invited a couple of close friends and partners to enjoy this rare opportunity. Also, their Gala-guests winery Tement presented a ten-year vertical of their best Sauvignon Blanc Zieregg.
For every vintage, Peter and the family can tell their personal story – very intense, very touching. And this great, rare wine with its fantastic character also mirrors the specifics of each vintage. That makes this tasting a joint walk through a whole decade of winemaking. At the same time showing how much the winery was able to improve and develop this high-end Riesling year over year.
Thank you, Peter, for inviting us to this amazing vertical tasting and to your table at the Riesling Gala!
The chefs:
Carl Grünewald – Genusswerkstatt Mainz
Alexander Hohlwein – Restaurant 360° Limburg
Matthias Schmitt – CONSORTIUM Wiesbaden
Tatsuya Shimizu – L.A. Jordan Deidesheim
Philipp Stein – Steins Restaurant Mainz
Julian Strohwasser – Weinsinn Frankfurt
The wineries:
