The Country Mice

Not a lot of rain falls on the hillsides between the towns of Meissen and Dresden, yet over the summer months there’s plenty of heat. Hence great conditions for certain types of wine grapes.

Reisling comes to mind. White, dry, sweet, sparkling, blush — options both myriad and mouth-watering.

From any angle the vineyard is a pretty sight with neat terraced rows, straw-hatted workers hoeing between the vines, guests dressed in their finest attending a wedding in the little house on the hill.

Nice place for a party, nein?

The vines are systematically pruned and tied for optimal grape production. Farmer Gordon informed us that there are various schools of thought on how best to shape the growing vine — whether the vine has a large central stem or divides off into multiple smaller ones. Not sure which strategy he’s employing on our massive grape operation at home. This year we may have enough fruit for a pie!

What a great day!

Riots of colour attract the bees.

And the humans.

And as we depart, we see we have mis-timed our visit for the formal wine tasting. Now that would have been fun, regardless of language limitations.

But as great luck and forethought would have it, we did remember to visit the on-site boutique to pick up a few souvenirs.

And had a wee tasting of our own.

Mmmmm.