Sometimes I pick up a couple of wine bottles while travelling. Souvenirs. While in Bremen, Germany, I got myself a nice Riesling: Hexamer Meddersheimer Rhine Grafenberg. Limited edition, I might add.
This Riesling was in honor of the ‘Schaffermahl, which is the world’s oldest annual fraternal banquet.
Schaffermahl
The Schaffermahl or ‘mariners’ meal’ is a proud Bremen tradition, first held in 1545 as a farewell dinner for mariners and merchants who had spent the long winter months with their families, it now doubles as a charity fundraiser for the ‘Haus Seefahrt’ foundation.
The Schaffermahl takes the form of a five-hour event that is full of rituals. The order in which the drinks and dishes are served is just as strictly set out as the order in which the speeches are made between courses.
The 473 Schaffer meal took place in Bremen in the upper town hall on 10 February 2017. With almost 500 years, the supper of the Schaffer is the oldest continuing, repeating every year fraternal meal in the world and therefore one of the most traditional events in Germany. For this, Ludwig Von Kapff supplied this limited edition Riesling this year.
The Riesling in question
The Hexamer Meddersheimer Rhine Grafenberg Riesling is a dry white wine from the close to one remarkable price / pleasure ratio. On the palate, fine aromas of peach, melon and grapefruit show. Together with fine aromas of herbs and the fine minerality is a delicate white wine that goes especially with light fish dishes.
This Riesling comes from the Meddersheimer Rheingraf mountain where the vines grow on the steep slope on weathered sandstone with a high proportion of quartzite. The favorable mild and dry climate and the alternation of warm days and cool nights makes for particularly aromatic grapes. The grape harvest is pure manual work.
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