Moving to Freiburg, Germany (SW corner) in July...

Hi all,

I just accepted an offer for a consulting job I've been anxiously awaiting. It'll be in beautiful Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. It's in the southwest corner of the country, about 45 min. by train from Basel, Switzerland and about 20-30 min. by train from Strasbourg, France. I'll be moving there in early July, and with the long work permit application process, I may have a few weeks on my hands before I can legally start working.

So... if you were in this situation, where would you go for wine tourism? Since most of my very limited wine knowledge resides solidly in Champagne territory, I'm thinking that's one of the first places I may want to visit. But I've had some tasty Rieslings and I'm a big fan of wines from Burgundy (the few that I've had).

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Dan

Dan,

Freiburg is a beautiful city, I hope you enjoy your time there.

As for areas for wine tourism, a lot depends on what your particular interests and priorities are: grapes and styles you are interested in, visiting world renowned areas versus visiting areas whose often wonderful wines are hard to come by in the States, ease of visiting, competing cultural interests, and so on and on and on.

That being said, I would not shy away from focusing on the very local. Freiburg's position in the Black Forest is located within the wine region of Baden--whose wines don't seem to be widely available in the States, but includes some very talented producers (in my limited experience) producing wines of distinction not only from Riesling, but also Gewürztraminer, Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris/Grigio) and some of the best Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) that I have had in Germany. From Freiburg it is about a 20 minute drive to the Kaiserstuhl which has a beautiful landscape of terraced vineyards in addition to some great producers. And it is less than one hour to hop over the border to visit the extremely picturesque villages of Alsace--where the grapes are often the same as in Baden, but the winemaking approach is dramatically different. A visit to these two regions is very educational for the contrast.

Beyond that, you have quite a lot of choices within a three hour drive: many of Germany's more and less well-known regions, as well as Burgundy and the Jura in France and a few places in Switzerland--their stuff does not get exported much but it is delicious and very, very interesting and unique.

Too many good choices . . . it'll be hard for you to make a bad one. Enjoy!

Thanks, Keith. I'm not sure yet whether I'm going to buy a car over there, so I may be somewhat limited in terms of where I can visit. One of the main reasons I wanted to get a car, actually, was so that I could go on those kinds of trips. I'm always more interested in things to which I generally have limited exposure, so I'll try to go to the nicer and less-famous places if I can.

Of course, since I'll be in the area, I can also probably buy those wines at the local Getraenksmaerkte, right? That might provide a direction for me in terms of where I'd like to visit. When I was still with my last girlfriend who's from the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria (between Munich, Nuernberg, and Regensburg), her local Aldi stocked decent French wines for about a Euro-fifty.

If you have any specifics you could recommend, I'd highly appreciate it...! But in any case, thanks for the great suggestions.

Aha, yes, visiting producers without a car would be quite a challenge. Perhaps occasionally renting a car for a day or two, though still expensive, might provide an opportunity to make visits and have experiences that might otherwise be impossible.

In my experience (not in Freiburg specifically, but this at least seems to have wide applicability at least across southern Germany) the German wines you will see in Getränksmärkte will most likely be bulk wines produced by large cooperatives--these are commodity wines, built to compete on price and not on quality. I have not spent a lot of effort exploring them but they seem to be cheap and drinkable, but rarely interesting, and never very distinctive. You are in luck, however, as Freiburg is a decently-sized metropolis and is likely to have some specialty wine shops. I suggest you seek them out and tell them what types of wines you are interested in exploring. Alas even here it might not be easy, as the trend seems to be that once Germans are no longer interested only in cheap mass-produced wine, they move to the other extreme of anything-but-German as they flock toward low and medium-priced French and Italian wines--even if their neighbors are producing quality stuff at very good prices. But if you can find a decent wine shop who takes German wine seriously, you should have a good start.

Oh, and not to totally diss coops, I have heard that the Kaiserstuhl Winzergenossenschaft produces some quality stuff and might be worth checking out. Not sure if their stuff makes to the local mom-and-pop beverage shops, but it might be worth taking a chance on if it does.

Producers that I have visited that I would feel comfortable picking up a bottle of if I saw it include Franz Keller, Dr Heger and Salwey. I have heard positive things about Stigler and the WS on the Kaiserstuhl, as well as Andreas Laible further north, but I haven't had the opportunity to try their wines.

Dan,
In your original post you mentioned Champagne as one of the first places you might want to go. It's relatively easy to get there without a car as you can take the train to Strasbourg and then on to Reims - the new high-speed Strasbourg-Paris train goes through Reims. Once there it's possible to visit some producers and enjoy the city on foot, and you could get a bus/train to Epernay to do similar there.
From Strasbourg you could also get a train to Colmar, the heart of Alsace.
Given that your free time is mid-summer, it might be possible to rent a bicycle if a car wasn't possible either when you get to each place or travel with one ... not sure about tasting and cycling though.
As Keith has said in his excellent responses you will be based in a great centre for wine explorations - in addition to places already mentioned, you could also consider investigating some Swiss vineyards near Basel.
Have a great time!

Dan, not sure of your history, but if you're interested in trying to get a cheap car, you'll be an hour or so drive from the largest US military community outside of the States. Military guys are always trying to get rid of their cheapo US cars, so the military will ship back the Mercedes or BMW we bought over here (I've purchased 1 of each). Here's a couple of sources to get information in the area...

the base newspaper... published every Friday
http://www.kaiserslauternamerican.com

a yahoo message group to obtain & give away free items -- "freecycle_ramstein"

daily military newspaper... click on the menu bar on the left and you can download a .pdf file daily
http://www.estripes.com

Thanks for the advice guys, especially on where to look for cars!

I moved here three weeks ago now and have started work. I'm definitely enjoying it, though I must admit I've been trolling Aldi and other cheap stores for some cheap wines to begin with since, while not great, they are drinkable here, even at low prices. I bought my first non-cheap (for me - 16eu) wine here today at Lidl (another cheap store) -- a 2004 Chateau Balestard la Tonnelle Grand Cru (St.-Emilion). I didn't start to get into dry no-bubs in the U.S. but since I actually prefer red wines (please don't jump on me for lumping them together! I don't like all) I might as well start nowish. I'll pass along my rather uneducated and, unfortunately, not-likely-to-be-very-useful, thoughts after getting a chance to drink this one.

After all, the beer has been pretty disappointing here so far!

Thanks again and will write again soon.

How can it come that i have not seen this post yet???

...maybe I could have saved you from buying a wine from LIDL...there should be some "Getränkehändler" (=beverage store) in Freiburg that should have some fine wine from some local producers, either from Baden or from Alsace (Elsaß/ Elsass).

If you are looking for a car rather have a look here or buy the weekly newspaper (Sperrmüll) at the next filling station than buying a car from someone returning home from the army because this cars usually won`t have a german operating licence (Betriebserlaubnis), they had an army registration but you won`t get one as a non-army resident, therefore you can`t registrate them. You should get a reasonable priced car from around 2-3000€, used car market in germany is a big market and you have lot of choice as you might have noticed yet

To come back to the wines... you bought some wine at ALDI and you call them drinkable? ...I mean...you just get the real cheap ones there... LIDL or REAL or all those stores, you just get wholesale headache stuff there. Usually the local beverage store has at least some wines. Good wine isn`t sold because they don`t produce enough to deal with the large wholesale stores. Drive around in the Alsace or in Baden or maybe even on the german wine route ;) (about 140km north), have some stops at some local restaurants and check out the wines there, they are mostly from local producers and you can find some real good vintners and vineyards around there.

What you should not miss for sure is the biggest winefest in the world, the sacred Wurstmarkt in Bad Dürkheim, this year held from 12.-16. and 19.-22. september. You`ll get over 300 local produced wines (just wine from local /=city limits producers allowed) there, believe me, you don`t wanna miss that! (at least I won`t lol).

Or get to some local wine festivals around Freiburg (don`t think there are as much as in the palatinate region...)...found something what looks like a winefestival calender of that region her - and the translated version here, you will get the cheaper wines on the wine festivals but they are real reasonable priced and you won`t miss that fun...

Thanks for the post Richard!

Aren't "German spec" cars that servicemen/women sell cars that are registered German and not USAREUR? On the various websites where there are listings some say "American spec" and some say "German spec" -- I assumed that the German ones are ones that I can drive here without changing the light configuration, etc. But I'll look into that, thanks for letting me know.

I have been having some much better wines recently, though, as my parents were in town to visit and we went to some restaurants. I usually just cook, so this was a special chance to try some new wines. I had a decent Riesling at Zum Roten Baeren (a great restaurant here in Freiburg), but I mostly ordered Weissburgunder/Pinot Blanc wines and there were many excellent ones. One in Baden-Baden in particular that was one of the best white wines I've ever had (though that's not saying very much...!). There were some decent Grauburgunder/Pinot Gris wines that were pretty great too. I also picked up a couple of bottles of Riesling in Strasbourg. So I am branching out a little -- I just have yet to find a good wine store that doesn't charge outrageous prices.

I do have another question for you, though... where can I get a reasonably priced wine fridge in the area? I'm a little apprehensive about buying good wines to keep here because my room gets very very warm (no AC) and I know I'm not supposed to keep wine in a regular refrigerator. I just need one that can hold maybe 15 bottles or so, no more. Is this the kind of thing I might be able to find in some kind of non-specialty store around here? Or will I need to order online with the high shipping fee?

Thanks for the post Richard!

Aren't "German spec" cars that servicemen/women sell cars that are registered German and not USAREUR? On the various websites where there are listings some say "American spec" and some say "German spec" -- I assumed that the German ones are ones that I can drive here without changing the light configuration, etc. But I'll look into that, thanks for letting me know.

The trick is imported "US-spec" cars haven't paid the German taxes on them. You can obtain & drive a US-spec car as a non-USAREUR license holder, but the buyer has to pay the applicable import taxes to make it legal. You'll need to obtain the specifics at the local Zollamt (Customs Office). I'll see what information I can get from the Customs Office on base...

As it seems you know, the obvious physical differences between US & European spec are the lights & the glass shatter specifications. US windshields are laminated & have a sheet of plastic in the middle to allow it to shatter and yet stay in "1 piece".

As promised, here is the information from the Customs Office regarding the sale (transfer) of a car from a US servicemember to a local national.

http://www.hqusareur.army.mil/OPM/gercustoms.htm

Click on the Transfer link for the information.

Wow, thanks Pete for all your help. I wonder if some of the servicemembers drive cars they bought in Germany -- if so, that would make it a little easier. Still, the search continues.......

To make it clear, the problem is not the tax it`s the difference in lights, screens, electric to get a german registration (Zulassung), you would need to change them and get a brand new examination (Hauptabnahme, TÜV) what would cost something between 500 and 2000 € and it would be a major hassle to deal around with those folks who inspect the car.

I would consult you to go to a reliable licensed car dealership and get some quotations for a car fitting your budget, or maybe first have a look here, here, or here here or here or some of them

For the wine fridge, sometimes they have them on special offer in the big supermarket chains, last month I saw them at Tchibo (coffee chain) but their websites says they are sold out, price comparison says it could cost about 150€ with package, thankfully I can store mine in the cellar

I saw I had not mentioned the Gault Millau wine guide (english site), have a look there for some good wineries, great information there.