Wine Story

Austria's local wine is Gruner Veltliner -- a light, crisp white wine. Jim opened a bottle for our birthday dinner earlier this year. He had bought the bottle eleven years ago when he was studying in Vienna and his program took a wine tour. (This was before he knew that you don't age white wine; nevertheless, it was tasty.) We enjoyed the wine so much that he kept the label. When we biked to Krems, he pulled out the label and called the winery which was in a nearby town. The guy told us to come by the next day for a little tour. We biked (uphill the whole way!) to the town of Strass and waited at the church as instructed. At noon the vitner himself pulled up in his tractor and sporting his little Austrian hat. We followed him on the bikes to the grape fields.

Jim was the first former student to return to the winery and they were thrilled to have us. The tour included tasting a glass from every barrel in his cellar. There was no tasting and spitting out of the wine. 'Drink! Drink!' Then he and his wife (the sole grape pickers, stompers, bottlers, and tasters) invited us to his porch where we spent the next few hours drinking an amazing variety of wine and food. The couple spoke a fast and furious German and Jim struggled to break through the dialect and catch some words. It was a pretty hilarious conversation involving lots of gestures and laughing.

Eventually we had to leave and bought a couple of bottles (a whopping 5 dollars) on our way out. It was quite a swervy ride downhill back to Krems. Fortunately, Jim's tire popped and we sat in a cornfield for a long time to repair it and sober up.

We shared both bottles of wine and the story with our farm hosts.

Prost! (Cheers!)

Tera and Jim