Max the Egg, part 2, and Move-in

So, for those of you who read the last post, you know that little Alex's dad turned out to be vice president of the Schloss Johanissberg winery (the winery that invented ice wines). Turns out he is also the head winemaker/Kellarmeister in their cellar. It also turns out he is one of the most hospitable people I have ever met. Wednesday night he took us on a tour of the two cellars of Schloss Johannisberg, one about 300 meters from the castle, one directly under the castle itself.

One of the most striking things about Germany is how the definition of "old" changes. The wine cellar directly under the castle is old any way you measure it. It was first constructed in the 12th century. Thanks to Drew for this picture. I'll edit this post a little bit later with more pictures.




My breath froze down there even though it was about 70 degrees outside because of the ridiculously high humidity. While we were down in the cellar we walked up to the locked up "wine library" there. The Kellarmeister explained how the wine was spared during both world wars because officers stayed in the castle and "guarded" the wine. We also saw a bottle from about 1748 or thereabouts, or, put in another way, older than our country. We also got to taste eight or nine wines. He did all of this out of the goodness of his heart after the wine store was closed with no expectation that we would buy anything. But he really did show us that the Riesling that comes from the Rheingau is some of the best wine in the world. His hopsitality was another tremendous welcome to Germany.

When I get a few more pictures I will edit this post. Other than that, all I have to say is that I moved into my host family on Saturday and started school today. I'll do an update on that sometime soon but for now it's safe to say that my host family is awesome and everyone at the school is very nice and accommodating.