Spending a certifiably wholesome week at the Organic Vineyard in Munzingen Germany. Located near the Rhine River on the border of Deutschland, France and Switzerland.
The Vorgrimmler family are wonderful hosts whom I now consider friends. They have generously shared their current bounty of garden delights.
This producer of fine wines grows the grapes using only organic techniques including teas from herbs grown in the garden as pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer. Sadly many of the other growers use round-up. The Vorgrimmlers own patches on the top of the Tuliberg, thus downstream chemical flow is minimized.
Different varieties of white and red wine are created on site in the blue barn. Not using high tech equipment the grapes are fermented, bottled and aged the way it has been done for centuries.
We were fortunate enough to be given a personal tour of the vineyard. I learned so much, best class I took in decades. Sure puts those CEU, evidence based workshops to shame.
In Spring the intensive crop of white asparagus is grown with careful attention not to expose it to sun which would turn it geen. That white asparagus is highly prized by the Europeans.
I still like my green, purple top California asparagus.
Best of all we arrived at the peak of Gravenstein apple season. Right out the window an old tree with the apples plopping into dew moistened unmowed grass.
Gravensteins are considered "heirloom" in the States and according to an article I read in NYTIMES are grown primarily with a short season in Sonoma California.
Did some day tripping from hiking mountain peaks in the Schwarzwald, traveling across the Rhine to medieval cities in France to visiting Basel in Switzerland.
Did I mention the magnificent sunsets in the western skies over the vineyard?
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