My wife Annette Schiller used to run and own an event management company, which specialized in organizing conferences with the World Bank. Many of these conferences had attendance of 500 plus people and a budget with a 6-digit US$ number. Now, she has scaled back to a one-person-shop and has started to organize wine tours and winemaker dinners.
Weinrallye # 65: Weinurlaub/Urlaubsweine - Wine Vacation/Vacation Wine
This posting is being published as part of the Weinrallye, a monthly blog event in Germany. Participating wine bloggers - mainly in Germany - are all releasing postings today under the heading Weinurlaub/Urlaubsweine - Wine Vacation/Vacation Wine. Weinrallye is the brainchild of Thomas Lippert, a winemaker and wine blogger based in Heidelberg, Germany. This month's wine rally is organized by Victoria Hendgen from Weinreich - Blog (www.blog.wein-reich.info).
This posting centers around wine vacation. It briefly outlines the 2 wine tours to Germany and Bordeaux in August and September this year, which Annette Schiller (Ombiasy Wine Tours) is offering.
Ombiasy Wine Events
Recent wine maker dinners include one at Eola (Washington DC) with Anne Cuvelier and the wines of Chateau Leoville Poyferre and at Open Kitchen (Northern Virginia) with Jean Trimbach and the wines of Domaine Trimbach.
See:
Château Léoville-Poyferré Winemaker Dinner with Anne Cuvelier at Eola in Washington DC, USA
Back in the Washington DC Area: Jean Trimbach Presented Maison Trimbach Wines at a Winemaker Dinner at Open Kitchen, USA
Ombiasy Wine Tours
The Ombiasy Wine Tours started in 2012 with a trip to Bordeaux. This was a German speaking tour with the Weinfreundeskreis Hochheim (Rheingau).
For this year, 2 wine tours are planned, both English speaking, one to Germany and one to Bordeaux.
Ombiasy Wine Tours: Wine and Culture Tour to Germany Coming up in August 2013
Led by Annette Schiller and Christian Schiller, a Wine and Culture Trip to Germany is coming up, August 22 - 30, 2013, organized by Ombiasy Wine Tours.
For 9 days, we will explore seven out of the thirteen wine regions and several cultural highlights in Germany: the Saale-Unstrut wine region in the former GDR, Weimar, cradle of German intellectual thinking, the Wartburg where Martin Luther spend his years hiding from the Roman Catholic Church, the Rheingau with its pristine vineyards and quaint medieval villages, the Basilica in Kiedrich where still today Gregorian chants are sung, the romantic Rhine river and its castle-ribboned banks, world-renowned wineries in the Mosel valley with its dizzying steep vineyards, the beautiful, peaceful Nahe valley, the biggest wine barrel in the world, the upcoming young ambitious winemakers in Rheinhessen, the one thousand year old city of Mainz, one of the nine wine capitals of the world.
We will visit 14 wineries, taste fabulous wines, share wine pairing meals with the proprietors of top wine producing estates and will have fantastic meals at great restaurants and historical places.
Germany with its roughly 250,000 acres under vine belongs today to one of the smaller wine producing countries in the world. However viticulture in Germany has a long tradition going back to Roman times 2,000 years ago. In the 15th century the area under vine was four times larger than it is today. Wars, subsequently loss of territory, diseases, overproduction, and competition from beer brewing resulted in land turned over to other agricultural use.
In the 19th century, technological progress fostered improvement of quality and the prestige of German wines, in particular from the Mosel, Rheingau, and Pfalz region resulted in prices above those for first growth Bordeaux wines. Today, all thirteen wine regions in Germany produce outstanding wines, with Rieslings and Pinot Noirs in the top league.
The price for this 9 day / 8 night trip is $ 2989 / per person, double occupancy. Single occupancy supplement is $ 430. Tour starts and ends in the city of Frankfurt am Main.
Ombiasy Wine Tours: Bordeaux Trip Coming up in September 2013
Led by Annette Schiller and Christian Schiller, a Bordeaux Trip is coming up: September 9 to 19, 2013, organized by Ombiasy Wine Tours.
This trip focuses on the two most well-known regions within the Bordeaux winegrowing area, where the highest number of world-class wines achieving skyrocketing prices are produced: Médoc with its appellations Saint-Estèphe, Pauillac, Saint-Julien, Margaux on the Left Bank and Saint-Emilion on the Right Bank with a side trip to the tiny Pomerol appellation. We will also visit the area where the Sauterne wines are produced and one château in the Pessac-Leognan appellation.
We will tour, taste the wines, and meet the owners of some of the famous Châteaux ranked in the 1855 Médoc Classification. The Médoc classification of 1855 covers (with one exception) red wines of Médoc. The 1855 classification was made at the request of Emperor Napoleon III for the Exposition Universelle de Paris. It ranked the wines into five categories, mainly according to price, and this classification has never been touched, except for the promotion of Mouton Rothschild. The famous 5 first growths are: Lafite-Rothschild in Pauillac, Margaux in Margaux, Latour in Pauillac, Haut-Brion in Péssac-Leognan, and Mouton Rothschild in Pauillac, promoted from second to first growth in 1973. There are: 14 Deuxièmes (2nd) Crus, 14 Troisièmes (3rd) Crus, 10 Quatrièmes (4rd) Crus, and 18 Cinquièmes (5th) Crus.
On the Right Bank we also will visit, taste the wines, and meet the owners of some of the Premiers Grands Crus Classés Châteaux of Saint-Emilion. Since 1954 an official French decree regulates the classification in Saint-Emilion. Two appellations, Saint-Emilion and Saint-Emilion Grand Cru share a single geographical region. The Saint-Emilion Grand Cru classification is revisited every ten years, with the latest reevaluation conducted in 2012. We witnessed wine history during last year’s Bordeaux trip when our group visited Saint-Emilion on the day the results were released. Saint-Emilion Grand Cru is again divided into two classifications: Grands Crus Classés (currently 63 Châteaux) and Premiers Grands Crus Classés (currently 15 Châteaux in the B category, and 4 in the A category: (Angélus, Ausonne, Cheval Blanc, and Pavie) for the top estates.
All lunches and dinners included in the itinerary will be gourmet meals in great restaurants. Special treats are lunches and dinners with wine pairings, where we will be joined by the Château owner. Our farewell dinner will be in a one Michelin star restaurant. Accommodation will be in 3-star, 4-star, and 5 star hotels with a breakfast buffet each morning waiting for you to kick off a great day of winery tours and tastings. Travel will be by luxury air-conditioned motor coach, starting and ending in the city of Bordeaux. This tour is designed for English speakers. Where English is not spoken, translation is assured throughout the entire trip.
The group will not exceed a total of 18 participants. Only a small group gets access to the top châteaux. Wine journalist Christian Schiller and Annette Schiller, professional event manager, both wine connoisseurs, experienced wine region travelers, and former residents of France will lead the group. We will make sure that the participants of this journey will experience a true feeling of genuine French culture.
The price for this 11 day / 10 night trip is $ 3965 per person, double occupancy. Single occupancy supplement is $ 535. Tour starts and ends in the city of Bordeaux.
We are sure, this trip will be as fantastic as the previous one. Join us on this trip to get a genuine feel for what Bordeaux has to offer.
Ombiasy Wine Tours Germany Trip 2013 – Related Postings
German Wine
German Wine Basics: Sugar in the Grape - Alcohol and Sweetness in the Wine
German Spaetlese Wines Can Come in Different Versions. I Have Counted Five.
When Americans Drink German Wine - What They Choose
Approaches to Classifying German Wine: The Standard Approach (the Law of 1971), the VDP Approach and the Zero Classification Approach
Video: How to Pronounce German Wine - Simon Woods' Enhanced Version
VDP
Germany's VDP Wine Estates Celebrate 100th Anniversary in Berlin
The VDP - the Powerful Group of German Elite Winemakers - Refines its Classification System, Germany
Weingut Pawis (VDP)
Weingut Pawis in Saale Unstrut, Germany
Rotkaeppchen-Mumm Sekt Kellerei
Visiting Rotkaeppchen-Mumm - the Second Largest Producer of Sparkling Wine in the World - in Freyburg (Saale-Unstrut), Germany
Thueringer Weingut in Bad Sulza
Visiting Winemaker Andreas Clauss and his Thueringer Weingut in Bad Sulza, Saale Unstrut, Germany
Weingut Balthasar Ress (VDP)
Hanging out with Rheingau Winemakers: Dirk Wuertz, Desiree Eser, Alexander Jakob Jung, Hansi Bausch and Christian Ress in Hattenheim, Rheingau, Germany
Weingut Robert Weil (VDP)
German Riesling and International Grape Varieties – Top Wine Makers Wilhelm Weil and Markus Schneider at Kai Buhrfeindt’s Grand Cru in Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Visiting Wilhelm Weil at his Weingut Robert Weil in Kiedrich, Germany
Tasting with Wilhelm Weil the 2010 Weingut Weil Wines in Kiedrich, Germany
Weingut Clemens Busch (VDP)
With Wine Maker Clemens Busch in Puenderich at his Winery in the Mosel Valley, Germany
Weingut Dr. Loosen (VDP)
The Doctor Made a House Call - A Tasting with Ernst Loosen, Weingut Dr. Loosen, at MacArthur Beverages in Washington DC, USA
Weingut Kruger-Rumpf (VDP)
Visiting Georg Rumpf and his VDP Weingut Kruger-Rumpf in the Nahe Region, Germany
Winzerhof Thoerle
The Wines of Up and Coming Winzerhof Thoerle, Rheinhessen
Surprising the World with their Pinot Noir: Johannes and Christoph Thoerle, Winzerhof Thoerle, Rheinhessen, Germany
Weingut Schaetzel
A New Fixture in the Reemerging Red Slope of Nierstein - Visiting Kai Schaetzel and his Weingut Schaetzel in Nierstein, Rheinhessen, Germany
Celebrating Riesling and my Birthday at Weingut Schaetzel in Nierstein, Rheinhessen, Germany
Ombiasy Wine Tours Bordeaux Trip 2013 – Related Postings
Here are a number of postings on schiller-wine on various events of last year’s Ombiasy Wine Tours Bordeaux trip as well as other postings that might be of interest for this year’s Ombiasy Wine Tours Bordeaux trip. Unlike this year’s trip, the 2012 trip started and ended in Hochheim, Germany and thus also included (in the beginning and in the end) events in the Champagne, Loire Valley, Cognac, Bourgogne and Alsace.
Bordeaux Trip September 2012, France
Bordeaux Wines and their Classifications: The Basics
The 5 Premiers Grands Crus Chateaux en 1855 of Bordeaux, France
What is a Bordeaux Cru Bourgeois? France
Saint Emilion Wines and their Classification, Bordeaux, France
The Saint Emilion 2012–2022 Classification, Bordeaux
In the Wine Capital of the World: the City of Bordeaux, France
Schiller's Favorite Wine Bars in Bordeaux (City), France
Plateau des Fruits de Mer and a Pessac-Leognan Wine in Bordeaux City, France
An Afternoon with Owner Henri Lurton at Château Brane-Cantenac, a Deuxieme Grand Cru Classe en 1855, in Margaux, France
An Afternoon with Owner Michel Tesseron at Château Lafon-Rochet, 4ème Cru Classé en 1855, in Saint-Estèphe, Bordeaux
An Afternoon with François Mitjavile at his Tertre Rôtebeouf - A Saint Emilion Cult Wine Producer
Vin Bio de Bordeaux - At Château Beauséjour in AOC Puisseguin-St.Emilion, France
The Wine Empire of the von Neipperg Family in France, Bulgaria and Germany
Château Léoville-Poyferré, Chateau Le Crock, Didier Cuvelier in Bordeaux and the Cuvelier Los Andes Wines in Argentina
Lunch with Didier Cuvelier at Château Léoville-Poyferré in Saint-Julien, Bordeaux
Château Pape Clément in Pessac-Léognan and the World Wide Wine Empire of Bernard Magrez, France
Tasting with Alfred Tesseron the last 10 Vintages of Château Pontet-Canet in Washington DC, USA/France
Château Figeac, Saint-Émilion - A Profile, France
Tasting the Wines of Chateau Lafon-Rochet, Saint-Estèphe, 4ème Cru Classé en 1855, with Owner Basil Tesseron at the French Embassy in Washington DC, USA/France
Fête du Bordeaux of Calvert and Woodley in Washington DC, 2012, USA
Château Brane-Cantenac, Deuxieme Grand Cru Classe en 1855, Margaux – A Profile, France
Henri Lurton and his Chateau Brane Cantenac Wines
Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux (UGCB) on North America Tour in Washington DC - Schiller’s Favorites
Owner Jean-Bernard Grenié and Wine Journalist Panos Kakaviatos Presented the Wines of Chateau Angélus and Chateau Daugay at Black Salt Restaurant in Washington DC, USA
Tasting Château du Cros and other Petites Bordeaux Wines with Winemaker Julien Noel at Calvert and Woodley in Washington DC, USA