New York Riesling Diary: Day 2 – Keep on Cruis’n !

“Which organization are you with?” asked the dark-haired not-quite-so-young-any-more woman sitting next to me on the deck of the USS Jewel yesterday at 7:55pm. “Organization? It’s just me,” I naively replied. “Oh, I’m with the Jewish Singles,” she explained, and than I realized that she had accidentally jumped ship. “If you want the Jewish Love Boat, that’s the one next door,” I told her gesturing at the boat next to us at the pier where people were gyrating on the dance floor even before it had set off. She just made it off the Jewel and onto the Jewish Love Boat before we cast off and headed down the East River for the German Riesling Concert & Cruise! To see my movie about last year’s event click on the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhOm5OsOt0k&feature=youtu.be

This time I only took a still camera with me and in the cause of speed I’m reducing the text here to a series of longer picture captions. Above, of course, is pictured the Statue of Liberty, which I never saw in such great summer weather or such spectacular light. Everyone was agreed about that, but as you can see from the picture below, from the very beginning our spirits were high. Here are the stars of Thursday evening’s 3rd Long Night of German Wine NYC at Resaturant Hearth, from right to left, Christine Huff of the Fritz Ekkehard Huff estate in Nierstein-Schwabsburg, Mirjam Schneider of the Schneider estate of Mainz-Hechtsheim and Eva Vollmer of the eponymous estate in Mainz-Ebersheim, all in Rheinhessen. Click on the link below for more details of the event:

Long Night of German Wines invite 2013

By the time the Jewel had made it to the southern tip of Manhattan night was falling and the lights of city were doing a pretty convincing impersonation of a tourist postcard, as the below shows. I’ve attempted this shot a few times before, but it never looked so good before. If it wasn’t for a string of other shots like this which were all slightly out of focus I’d have started believing that I had talent as a photographer!

Of course, the cruise was all about German Riesling and a number stunning wines were poured. Given the temperatures up in the eighties I found the almost bone-dry 2012 Riesling trocken from Franz Künstler in Hochheim/Rheingau wonderfully refreshing. However, I could say the same thing for the 2012 Riesling Kabinett from Weiser-Künstler in Traben-Trarbach/Mosel, although this had a pronounced (and highly aromatic) sweetness. Riesling Kabinett of this filigree and playful kind is one of the styles in which the 2012 vintage wines really shine. Slightly less sweet, more savory, but similarly crisp and refreshing was the 2012 Riesling ‘Tradition’ from Robert Weil in Kiedrich/Rheingau.

Then I got carried away with dancing although I was already feeling a bit tired when the evening began. The band had played well right from the beginning, but when they suddenly threw in a Chuck Berry number the dance floor ignited. My picture captures the moment it started to fill up.

I write this kind of story not to document these events (although these stories also do that), but to convey to the widest possible audience the special spirit of them. Joyful and hedonistic they are, but there are almost never any drunks and almost nothing stupid happens that people regret the next morning. Many people take the wine seriously, but more importantly everyone enjoys it without any pressure to drink more than they want. You may be surprised to hear it, but I’m not entirely without sympathy for the anti-alcohol lobby (alcohol is a drug and alcoholics are drug addicts, as this blog has always made clear), but in situations like this their arguments fall almost totally flat. Conviviality of a special kind, of the Riesling kind, ruled the evening.

See you Thursday night at Hearth. Keep on Cruis’n !