The Best Wine Shopping Trip EVER!!!

Again, to set the timeline, it's Sat, 9/25, but this posting is concerning Thursday, 9/23 while we were still in Mistelbach. Tchüss!!

I've made this a separate entry only because there is so much to say about Thursday, and I had to break it up. It was the next morning after my reintroduction to Austrian wine, and I was feeling a little... dry. Woosey. Not terrible, but not great either. Verena and the kids were over, and Christa made a big lunch of dumpling soup, schnitzle, salad, rice, and veggies, and I could only muster the soup and a few bites a food. What a shame, because it was really good. When we were out the night before, I had noticed a U-shaped bread/dessert, and Christa jumped on the opportunity to bake for us, but with the understanding that I got to assist. Now that the moment came, all I wanted to do was lie down. But it only took a few mintues of kneading and shaping, and then I crawled back to the bedroom to nurse my “wounds”.

<-- This is Max, the Wonder Puppy ;)

Around 5PM, it was time to see “The Cellar” again. In Austria, they have streets that are only wine cellars... no one can live around there burning their fireplaces, driving their cars, disturbing the wine. I remembered the kellerstrasse from our last visit when Christa took us to meet some friends of hers who had just purchased a wine cellar

as their retirement project. From that experience, I acquired the little green wine pitcher in our kitchen which you may or may not have noticed. It was an impulse gift from those kind people, and has served as a reminder and symbol of the hospitality and generosity that is characteristic of our time here.

First goal was to drive by the wine district in Poysdorf, another small town only 7 or 8 km away and right along the route to Bruno, Czech Rep. As I had mentioned before, this is a very Catholic area, and there are just as many public statues and plaques dedicated to the Church as there are for wine-making. The landscape surrounding these towns is lush and fertile with

rows of grapevines, winter wheat, and dried sunflowers covering every available inch. It's different here than in the states. Rather than acres and acres of just corn or wheat, they divide their farmland into long, narrow strips of crops creating a patchwork quilt of colors that does not need to be appreciated from the window seat.

Our first stop was a memorial site perched on top of a rocky formation between Mistelbach and

the Czech border. After the 2^nd World War ended, any German-speaking person was kicked out of the Czech Republic, and were forced to walk back West keeping only what they could carry. The path that they took was referred to as the Brünnerstrasse Death March. Today, it's a concrete road dotted with signs and religious markers to remind travelers of the lives lost during thatperiod. At the top of the hill, a small, flat, rocky stage is surrounded by benches providing a space for services surrounded by a warm landscape in stark contrast to its tragic history. For us, it was a place to stretch our legs, feel the sun and wind against our faces, and gave Max (super puppy extraordinaire) a place to explore and eat grass ;)

I referred to “The Cellar” earlier, and it's in quotations because it's much much more than a simple Austrian cellar. It's more like a labyrinth, and was constructed by connecting a number of pre-existing cellars together over the years. Now, it's the kind of place to hold weddings, receptions for important dignitaries, and to entertain your American friends then they come to town. The entry was nothing, a simple green door that required a key about the size of my forearm to get into. From there on, it was dramatic lighting, ancient brick walls, dusty wine bottles, and the kind of furniture a monk in the 15^th century might be accustomed to. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking, but there are certainly a few things to note. The cellar's walls were built with what looked like small fireplaces, one right after the next, and were just stacked with wine bottles. Each was marked with a small sign to indicate the type of wine and it's production year as most of them did not have labels. Other favorite moment, someone had stuck the corks into the nooks of the walls as they continued to empty them at whatever party they held there recently (apparently it's a sign that you liked the wine). Christa and Tony just walked around picking out bottles as they went, and Max was plenty happy tearing apart the corks on the floor... the most memorable wine-shopping trip EVER.

Afterwards, we made our way back to the house via the scenic route. Can't ignore the sign that says Fotostop, so we hopped out of the car and made our way around the vineyards and down another kellerstrasse back to Tony and the car waiting below. I've never had wine grapes from the vine, and it was a wonderful experience to taste them all before they were harvested. Again, I'll let the pictures do the talking as there are no words for what we saw that day.

I didn't eat much last night, and Sean went out with Johannes to an informal reunion of Joy of Cooking. Today thus far has mostly been writing and working with the Gimp (photos), and Johannes has stolen Sean away for a few hours of recording. Tomorrow, we head back to Vienna again.