To set-up the story for why today was such a big deal…My dad has been buying wine from the same import company for decades because his dad bought from them as well and now Carl and I do, too. Most of the wines that we buy are from a winery in Germany called Pieroth. Last year I happened to ask my dad what he wanted to do for his 60th birthday (which was 08/29/17) while we were drinking some of our favorite wines at a warehouse wine tasting held by the wine import company. His answer was “Go to this winery” as he pointed to the name Pieroth on a bottle he was holding. Since Carl and I don’t take talking about traveling lightly and because taking Dad on his first trip out of the country ever seemed like an epic birthday present, the idea of a European adventure was born.
Since the winery is not open to the public, it took weeks of discussion with the import company and the winery to get a visit scheduled, but it happened and September 26th was the day!
The private tour and tasting we were given could not have gone any better! Our host, Dieter, took us through the wine making process while walking us through the facility. We got to try six different specialty wines made from grapes specifically grown in the vineyards around the winery and each of us got to take home a bottle of our favorite. In addition Dieter took us to the winery’s off-site cellar where we got to view bottles of wine dating back to the 1700s. It was awesome!!!
After the Pieroth experience we decided to wander the streets to see if we could find any other open wineries and the rest of the day turned out amazingly!! We ended up getting a first-hand look at grape picking and wine making at Forester where the owners let us climb in a grape picking machine, eat a grape off the vine, and try fresh grape juice as grapes were being pressed. Such a cool experience!
Lastly, we wandered to Dr. Hofer where the doctor himself told us he was too busy to do a tasting, but that we could sit and drink some bottles on the cute patio. The only other person there was a German tour guide/performer who sang us Frank Sinatra songs and told us all about different areas of Germany and what to expect at Oktoberfest.
So glad Dad mentioned visiting Pieroth for his birthday as the beginning of this day turned out to be incredible!
P.s. Others have better pictures than I do from this day so maybe I’ll update this later.