The Wine-Times noted last year that the monstrous bridge being built over the Moselle River between Traben-Trarbach and Bernkastel-Kues, i.e. right in the world-famous Middle Mosel wine region, originally may have had a military purpose. See "Wine-Times - Irrsinns-Brücke über die Mosel soll nun doch gebaut werden."
That view is confirmed by looking at http://peti.pro-mosel.de/risiken.html, where a clear military purpose can be seen in documents and images going back to the year 1984 (Stern, 1984), where the bridge concept discussed there nearly 20 years ago is virtually identical to the bridge project now under construction.
No civilian purpose can explain this dramatic and otherwise totally unnecessary undertaking.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
The Rise of German Rieslings… at Marie's Blog: Marie von Ahm at JamesSuckling.com with Wine Ratings Reviews Tasting Notes Videos
Marie von Ahm at Marie's Blog: The Rise of German Rieslings… - JamesSuckling.com | Wine ratings, Wine reviews, Wine tasting notes & Wine videos writes that German Rieslings are on the rise, not only in her native Scandinavia, but also in China, the next great market for wine.
Hat tip to Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler Wine Estate
Hat tip to Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler Wine Estate
Friday, August 12, 2011
Mosel Valley Rieslings Touted by Harry Eyres at The Telegraph, Saddened by High Bridge over the Moselle River (Hochmoselübergang)
Harry Eyres is a real fan of Mosel wines but, as far as the monstrous bridge in process of construction over the Moselle River Valley, Eyres writes at The Telegraph in Rieslings from the Mosel valley:
Hat tip to CaryGEE.
"[Y]ou can’t help feeling that Germans in general do not value their 1,700-year-old wine heritage."
Hat tip to CaryGEE.
Monday, May 9, 2011
New Stricter Rules for Labeling Wine Proposed by U.S. Treasury Department Agency, The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau: How About Green Wine?
The long arm of the law is everywhere, also in wine-growing.
Michael Doyle McClatchy/Chicago Tribune News in Stricter wine labeling rules? Put a cork in it! reports that the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, an agency of the Treasury Department that regulates wine labeling, is considering tighter rules for wine label and wine label definitions.
Some U.S. vintners would welcome more exact limitations on who can use terms such as "estate" on their wine labels. The term "estate bottled" -- for a wine from an estate that controls the entire process from growing grapes to bottling the wine -- is quite strictly defined, whereas the term "estate" itself is not legally defined, permitting such labels as "estate grown", which may be misleading.
There are also differences between wine labeling depending on country.
For example, what about sulfites in wine? what about wine made from organic grapes?
Read Heather Stober Fleming of Grape Expectations at SouthCoastToday.com in
There's white wine, red wine, and now, 'green' wine.
Michael Doyle McClatchy/Chicago Tribune News in Stricter wine labeling rules? Put a cork in it! reports that the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, an agency of the Treasury Department that regulates wine labeling, is considering tighter rules for wine label and wine label definitions.
Some U.S. vintners would welcome more exact limitations on who can use terms such as "estate" on their wine labels. The term "estate bottled" -- for a wine from an estate that controls the entire process from growing grapes to bottling the wine -- is quite strictly defined, whereas the term "estate" itself is not legally defined, permitting such labels as "estate grown", which may be misleading.
There are also differences between wine labeling depending on country.
For example, what about sulfites in wine? what about wine made from organic grapes?
Read Heather Stober Fleming of Grape Expectations at SouthCoastToday.com in
There's white wine, red wine, and now, 'green' wine.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Best Wine Competition in Germany
Wein-Plus Magazine in Competition for wine by the glass writes that wine competition is underway in Germany. Go there for info in English about the Mosel region competition.
For more information in German (only), see also derbesteschoppen.de, which has divided Germany into the various wine regions for purposes of the competition, not just the Mosel region, but also including Mittelrhein, Rheinhessen, and Pfalz. The Ahr and Pfalz are pictured on the map but not currently clickable.
For more information in German (only), see also derbesteschoppen.de, which has divided Germany into the various wine regions for purposes of the competition, not just the Mosel region, but also including Mittelrhein, Rheinhessen, and Pfalz. The Ahr and Pfalz are pictured on the map but not currently clickable.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Wine Connoisseurs Around the World: Please Write to the German Chancellor Now to Tell Her The Politicians Have Gone Too Far with the Planned Monstrous Mosel Bridge
Wine pope Hugh Johnson wrote last year at Decanter.com about the planned monstrous Mosel Bridge to run through the middle of one of the world's greatest wine-growing regions, calling it "a bridge gone too far".
See The Mosel: A bridge too far .
Johnson recommends that all lovers of wine around the world write to the German Chancellor Angela Merkel to tell her that this planned bridge is a big mistake:
See The Mosel: A bridge too far .
Johnson recommends that all lovers of wine around the world write to the German Chancellor Angela Merkel to tell her that this planned bridge is a big mistake:
"Every wine lover should stand up and protest. If you agree with me, contact the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel (write to her at angela.merkel@cdu.de), and open a bottle of Urziger, Graacher, Wehlener… you choose."
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Mosel Bridge-Building Paused for Coalition Negotiations Between the Social Democratic Party and the Environmentalist Green Party
On March 3, 2011, prior to elections in the German Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) we posted at LawPundit about the highly controversial 158-meter high and over 1-mile long bridge planned to be built over the Moselle (Mosel) River right through the center of one of the world's leading wine-producing regions -- see Winemakers Unite to Oppose the Building of an Ugly and Unnecessary Bridge over the Moselle River in Germany's Famed Mosel Wine Region. But is it TOO LATE?
We are glad to report that the fantastic result of that election is that the building of the monstrous planned Moselle bridge has been paused for post-election coalition negotiations, for the reason that a major aspect of the political platform of the Alliance '90/The Greens, who emerged from the elections as the political party of the hour, was strong opposition to the bridge.
To get some idea of the gigantic size of this bridge, 158 meters is the same height as the Telecommunications Tower, Torre de las Telecomunicacione viz. Torre Antel (Antel Tower) in Montevideo, Uruguay, the tallest building in the country!
For the planned Mosel Bridge, just extend that height one mile horizonally and add 25,000 tons of steel over one of the most picturesque rural wine-producing areas in the world and you know that some misguided planners' delusions of grandeur have reached their limit.
Here, for comparison, from the German Wikipedia website (Hochmoselübergang) are "before" and "after" images of what the countryside looks like now and what it will look like if this monstrous bridge is built as planned. These gigantic pillars for the Mosel are essentially equivalent to putting a dozen skyscrapers in the middle of French Bordeaux. Would France ever even think of doing such a crazy thing?
The elections are now over and the German environmental party, Alliance '90/The Greens, surely in part also because of the tragic tsunami wave in Japan and the subsequent nuclear catastrophe which has followed, made huge gains in Baden-Wuerttemberg, ousting Chancellor Merkel's CDU party.
Merkel's ruling party was absolutely destroyed there by stupidly supporting the planned demolition in Stuttgart of the Hauptbahnhof, the main train station, a highly regarded cultural and architectural monument, in order to make way for a planned underground station. Police used water cannons to try to remove protestors, inciting even more opposition, and the ruling CDU party did not get the message that they were on the wrong side of the issue. They got what they deserved in the election -- they were ousted. As now written at Deutsche Welle:
In the Rhineland-Palatinate, the Alliance '90/The Greens picked up substantial environmental votes, enough votes to go from being completely out of the government previously, to now having to be included in coalition negotiations with the Social Democratic Party (SPD). That SPD, just as the minority Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the Palatinate, has up-to-now supported the bridge for economic reasons. What economic reasons? The bridge is being financed 80% by federal financing and those Euros for the Palatinate constitute the blood money for the otherwise unnecessary bridge.
Thankfully, the German voters are paying attention. In the March 27, 2011 Rhineland-Palatinate elections, this time it was the SPD that lost its ruling majority in the State, gaining 10% fewer votes than in 2006 in the Palatinate. It is a strong political message when Germany's two largest political parties are getting beaten badly because of environmental issues.
By contrast, the Alliance '90/The Greens surged from 4.6% in 2006 in the Palatinate-- not even reaching the 5% government-participation threshold -- to achieving a triumphal 15.4% in 2011, putting them solidly in the government and reaching a voting level they are unlikely to lose anywhere in the near future.
The environmental ramifications of the Fukushima nuclear accidents will be with us for years. MORE environmental protection, rather than less, will be the hallmark of successful politicians.
For Palatinate Minister-President Kurt Beck and the SPD to stay in power and to continue to govern, something has to give in the coalition negotiations, and it is going to be the building of the totally unnecessary monstrous bridge over the Moselle River. That will have to go.
Representatives from the CDU have been quoted post-election as saying that the bridge will be built anyway because of ca. €330 million contracts that have been granted viz. planned for construction of the project.
We are not sure about that.
Those contracts are no hindrance to stopping the bridge.
There is of course no reason to cost people their jobs just because you end an unnecessary construction project. Those same construction firms can be put to work for the same money repairing the roads, bridges and highways that ALREADY EXIST and in part are in a dilapidated state of repair. There is plenty of work to be done.
Or, in a worst case scenario, one could maintain the road-building as planned, but replace the monstrous bridge with a normal "human-size" bridge as already found on the Mosel elsewhere and as suited to a wine-growing and tourist area.
Most people on the Mosel could probably live with that.
Roads and bridges over rivers are necessary in moderation -- but not the monstrous bridge planned for the Mosel. That is NOT necessary.
If the politicians in Berlin still want this monstrous bridge built as a job generator (Arbeitsbeschaffungsmaßnahme), we suggest they try to put it in the middle of Berlin on the Ku'damm (Kurfürstendamm) and see what happens. That would be no different than putting that same bridge here on the Mosel.
We are glad to report that the fantastic result of that election is that the building of the monstrous planned Moselle bridge has been paused for post-election coalition negotiations, for the reason that a major aspect of the political platform of the Alliance '90/The Greens, who emerged from the elections as the political party of the hour, was strong opposition to the bridge.
To get some idea of the gigantic size of this bridge, 158 meters is the same height as the Telecommunications Tower, Torre de las Telecomunicacione viz. Torre Antel (Antel Tower) in Montevideo, Uruguay, the tallest building in the country!
Full resolution (480 × 640 pixels, file size: 64 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)
Torre de las Telecomunicaciones, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Foto realizada y subida por Federico Corral (aka Shant)
Torre de las Telecomunicaciones, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Foto realizada y subida por Federico Corral (aka Shant)
For the planned Mosel Bridge, just extend that height one mile horizonally and add 25,000 tons of steel over one of the most picturesque rural wine-producing areas in the world and you know that some misguided planners' delusions of grandeur have reached their limit.
Here, for comparison, from the German Wikipedia website (Hochmoselübergang) are "before" and "after" images of what the countryside looks like now and what it will look like if this monstrous bridge is built as planned. These gigantic pillars for the Mosel are essentially equivalent to putting a dozen skyscrapers in the middle of French Bordeaux. Would France ever even think of doing such a crazy thing?
The elections are now over and the German environmental party, Alliance '90/The Greens, surely in part also because of the tragic tsunami wave in Japan and the subsequent nuclear catastrophe which has followed, made huge gains in Baden-Wuerttemberg, ousting Chancellor Merkel's CDU party.
Merkel's ruling party was absolutely destroyed there by stupidly supporting the planned demolition in Stuttgart of the Hauptbahnhof, the main train station, a highly regarded cultural and architectural monument, in order to make way for a planned underground station. Police used water cannons to try to remove protestors, inciting even more opposition, and the ruling CDU party did not get the message that they were on the wrong side of the issue. They got what they deserved in the election -- they were ousted. As now written at Deutsche Welle:
"German rail operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) has announced a work freeze on a contentious rail project centered on the southwestern city of Stuttgart following recent state elections."Baden-Wuerttemberg with its capital Stuttgart is the 3rd largest State in Germany, and corporate headquarters for inter alia Daimler [Mercedes-Benz], Porsche, Robert Bosch, Carl Zeiss, and SAP -- the largest software firm in Europe. Faced with the spectre of the CDU getting thrown out of government in that corporate-oriented State for being -- clearly -- on the wrong side of an important environmental issue, warning signs have gone up for politicians all over Germany.
In the Rhineland-Palatinate, the Alliance '90/The Greens picked up substantial environmental votes, enough votes to go from being completely out of the government previously, to now having to be included in coalition negotiations with the Social Democratic Party (SPD). That SPD, just as the minority Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the Palatinate, has up-to-now supported the bridge for economic reasons. What economic reasons? The bridge is being financed 80% by federal financing and those Euros for the Palatinate constitute the blood money for the otherwise unnecessary bridge.
Thankfully, the German voters are paying attention. In the March 27, 2011 Rhineland-Palatinate elections, this time it was the SPD that lost its ruling majority in the State, gaining 10% fewer votes than in 2006 in the Palatinate. It is a strong political message when Germany's two largest political parties are getting beaten badly because of environmental issues.
By contrast, the Alliance '90/The Greens surged from 4.6% in 2006 in the Palatinate-- not even reaching the 5% government-participation threshold -- to achieving a triumphal 15.4% in 2011, putting them solidly in the government and reaching a voting level they are unlikely to lose anywhere in the near future.
The environmental ramifications of the Fukushima nuclear accidents will be with us for years. MORE environmental protection, rather than less, will be the hallmark of successful politicians.
For Palatinate Minister-President Kurt Beck and the SPD to stay in power and to continue to govern, something has to give in the coalition negotiations, and it is going to be the building of the totally unnecessary monstrous bridge over the Moselle River. That will have to go.
Representatives from the CDU have been quoted post-election as saying that the bridge will be built anyway because of ca. €330 million contracts that have been granted viz. planned for construction of the project.
We are not sure about that.
Those contracts are no hindrance to stopping the bridge.
There is of course no reason to cost people their jobs just because you end an unnecessary construction project. Those same construction firms can be put to work for the same money repairing the roads, bridges and highways that ALREADY EXIST and in part are in a dilapidated state of repair. There is plenty of work to be done.
Or, in a worst case scenario, one could maintain the road-building as planned, but replace the monstrous bridge with a normal "human-size" bridge as already found on the Mosel elsewhere and as suited to a wine-growing and tourist area.
Most people on the Mosel could probably live with that.
Roads and bridges over rivers are necessary in moderation -- but not the monstrous bridge planned for the Mosel. That is NOT necessary.
If the politicians in Berlin still want this monstrous bridge built as a job generator (Arbeitsbeschaffungsmaßnahme), we suggest they try to put it in the middle of Berlin on the Ku'damm (Kurfürstendamm) and see what happens. That would be no different than putting that same bridge here on the Mosel.
Monday, March 28, 2011
The Upscale Wine Thief in Buffalo, New York
Paul Stephens in a special to the Buffalo News, New York State, features the upscale Wine Thief Bar and Bistro in Buffalo that offers an endless selection of wines.
Goldman Sachs and other Wealthy American Oenophiles Buy into the Vineyards of French Burgundy
At the Wall Street Journal Life and Culture blog ON WINE Jay McInerney Visits Becky Wasserman, the Earth Mother of Burgundy and weaves of tale of wealthy American oenophiles from Goldman Sachs and other US backgrounds who have invested in vineyards in France.
As McInerney writes inter alia:
As McInerney writes inter alia:
"Last month, a group of American investors assembled by former sommelier Robert Bohr purchased Domaine René Manuel, about 20 acres of prime Meursault vineyards for some €13 million ($18.5 million), sealing a trend whereby wealthy American oenophiles buy into the fabled vineyards of Burgundy."Read the whole intriguing article here.
Red Wine in Germany: German Pinot Noir (Spätburgunder) a Rising Star Says Brad Prescott at IntoWine.com
Best German Red Wine - Wine Recommendations | Into Wine
"Germany is the new rising star of Pinot Noir – called Spatburgunder in German."
How to Read a German Wine Label
Some of the best wines in the world are grown and bottled in Germany. To learn how to read a German wine label see GermanWineUSA.com
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Winemakers Unite to Oppose the Building of an Ugly and Unnecessary Bridge over the Moselle River in Germany's Famed Mosel Wine Region. But is it TOO LATE?
What chance does the environment have when politicians, administrators and environment-blind engineers destroy the best landscapes of their own national heritage? Take Germany.
Read here about one of the most outrageous and unnecessary bridge construction projects ever to threaten a beautiful region, in this case known for its breathtaking panoramic scenery and fantastic wines. Indeed, tourism and wine are the major industries of the Moselle River Valley. All are now threatened by one of the most detested building projects ever contemplated on German soil.
The politicians and political administrators in the Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) have OK'd the building of a massive "Autobahn" bridge over the Moselle River in the Mosel wine region, which threatens the scenery and the wine and virtually destroys a good section of the famed Middle Mosel River Valley. Virtually nothing justifies the building of this bridge, other than the selfish vested interests of those who seek to profit from it.
Read all about it at Plans for the Moselle Bridge: Winemakers Flex Muscles Before Upcoming State Election - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International.
Read here about one of the most outrageous and unnecessary bridge construction projects ever to threaten a beautiful region, in this case known for its breathtaking panoramic scenery and fantastic wines. Indeed, tourism and wine are the major industries of the Moselle River Valley. All are now threatened by one of the most detested building projects ever contemplated on German soil.
The politicians and political administrators in the Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) have OK'd the building of a massive "Autobahn" bridge over the Moselle River in the Mosel wine region, which threatens the scenery and the wine and virtually destroys a good section of the famed Middle Mosel River Valley. Virtually nothing justifies the building of this bridge, other than the selfish vested interests of those who seek to profit from it.
Read all about it at Plans for the Moselle Bridge: Winemakers Flex Muscles Before Upcoming State Election - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Vintners of the World: Amy Wallace at the New York Times on Emilio Estevez, the Budding Vintner
Amy Wallace has a nice piece at the New York Times on Emilio Estevez, the Budding Vintner
Saturday, August 21, 2010
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