Berlin re-visited

 

These four bottles were all we could find of interest in Berlin on this occasion. They are (from left to right) a favourite of ours Schloss Proschwitz Elbling, a Trollinger, a Portugieser and a Dornfelder Pet Nat.

It seemed hard to find a good winemerchant in Berlin. In big cities the winedepartments in supermarkets don't always have the space that we found at REWE in Freiburg im Breisgau for example. The grand old KaDeWe was best. Nice people too. 

We already drank the Portugieser which was excellent. Why is this grape looked down on and hard to find? In Beethoven's time it was perhaps the main red variety. 

Trollinger (aka Schiava/Vernatsch/Black Hamburgh) is hard to find outside Baden-Wuerttemburg we don't know why. Dornfelder is more ubiquitous which it should be. We are definite fans. 

Schloss Proschwitz is a leading producer from Meissen (Sachsen). You wouldn't know it's not far from Berlin such is the difficulty in finding it there. We have sung the praises of their Elbling before in these pages. Elbling has the same parentage as Riesling but is completely different. It is said to date back to Roman times and was the most common white variety in Germany before the 20th century. It is at home in the Mosel but This one from Meissen is adorable.