Mosel Weekend

A bit of sun and wine plus a bit of a song and a dance along the Mosel

The village of Leiwen is said to have got its name from Livia, the wife of emperor Augustus, who had a summer residence in the village, and she gave her name to the village. There have been several excavations in the village, unearthing buildings and artefacts dating back to Roman times.

We, the Kegel club that is, as opposed to the Royal We, go on an weekend outing every 2 years. We have tried other places, but have now settled on Eurostrand, they have 2 places in Germany that do the all-inclusive weekends especially tailored for clubs and then for clubs of those getting into and past middle age. They have one in the Lüneburger Heide (the heathland in Lower Saxony) and one on the banks of the Mosel at a small wine village called Leiwen it is in between Bernkastel-Kues and Trier, we alternate between the two and it was Leiwens turn to host the 10 Kegelbrüdern aus Rheda!

We now tend to travel by rail, and to this end the Eurostrand put on a special train, called the Zambazug  this travels through NW Germany picking up the varying parties, Senior football clubs (Altenherren), Skittle (Kegel), dice (Kniffel), card  (Rommey) and even knitting (strich) clubs. The last pick up point is Köln before heading along the Rhine to Deutsches Eck.

 

This is where the Mosel joins the Rhine at Koblenz, from there train follows the bank of the Mosel, passing under the Moseltal bridge with the vinyards pinned to the steep banks behind.

 

 

 

 Passing many small Mosel wine towns along its banks and the locks and weir at Lehmen

 

until leaving it at Hammersmühle to head off into the Eifel, the area of volcanic lava that still has the odd seismic movement every couple of years, it is also the home of the famous racing circuit Nürenbürg Ring, along with Gerolstein  volcanic spring water, but these had very little interest to most (though not I)as the other two things that the area is famous for is the Bitburger beer and of course the Mosel Wines. This is the home of the Riesling wines, a crisp white, that in good years is soft and delicate on the palate, with a lingering taste of apple and in bad years gives you heart burn, they haven’t had many bad years of late.

We disembarked from the train at Witterlich after 3 hours of dancing, drinking and snoozing; the next part of the journey was by coach down through the vineyards and into Leiwen.
Arrival and into our rooms, the complex is split into very nice 2 story houses each with a kitchen/living room and a large 2-3 bedroom downstairs and 2 double bedrooms upstairs, each with on suite and a flat screen television (important for football daft clubs). The houses are used during the School holiday periods for families.

 

The complex has a swimming pool, a bowling alley, a sauna, an archery range, boccia and day trips can be arranged into Trier an old Roman town with its famous Porta Negra as well as to the other wine towns along the Mosel, Ruwer and Saal.

So it was then straight to the bar, this was an all-inclusive weekend and my Kegel brothers didn’t aim to miss anything out, I am on a close controlled diet at the moment so I was not drinking a lot. What a sad time to be strict with oneself.

The meals are really outstanding and if you are unable to find anything to suit you, there is something wrong with you.

First evening.

2 types of soup

A clear consommé with croutons and a pumpkin cream soup

Salads innumerable

Cold cuts of meat and wurste

Cold fish, smoked salmon and trout, rollmops, fried herring

Red deer Goulasch with Spätzle

Roast chicken

Roast pork knuckle (Schweins haxe)

Roast Pork

Riesling Sauerkraut

Cabbage, bacon and onions in a cream sauce

Honeyed carrots

Roast potatoes

Potato dumplings (Kartoffelknödeln)

The Desserts

Yoghurts and quarks, chocolate puddings and fruit mousses, fresh and preserved fruits
A cheese board with 10 different Cheeses.

During the meal you could drink white and red mosel wines, sparkling sekt, beers, spirits, fruit juices and Gerolstein sparkling water for me.

That evening was taken up with live bands, disco, dancing or in a lot of cases drinking, at 22:00 out came the soup and the Schmaltzstuhlen  (dripping on rye whole grain bread and plenty of roast onions).
Then it was time for bed (well it was for me) the rest carried on well in to the early hours.

Next morning I was up early and went for a walk to collect the newspaper for the lads, well I thought I would be, but I was out and about before the delivery. Not that it mattered as the grounds around the complex are very nicely laid out with fountains and ponds.

I got the newspaper and returned to find most up and ready for breakfast.

This had everything one could wish for (except poached eggs), speck, Weißwurst, grilled tomatoes, freshly made potato cakes. Cereals and preserved fruits, a great selection of cold meats and sausages including Mett (that speciality minced spiced raw pork with onions), cold fish of every hue including my Kiel Saturday breakfast, Matjes. Once again the cheeses many and fresh fruits, fresh brewed coffee and all the fruit juices that you could ever wish for.

After breakfast, it was time for a walk down to Leiwen (only 500mtrs the shortest route) 2 of my colleagues decided to accompany me so we set off down the hill, arriving at the start of the town which lies on the bank of the Mosel and is also the landing stage for the many Mosel ship tours.

 

The other two decided that as it was getting near to 11 it was time to get back (not wanting to lose any precious drinking time).I meandered along the river bank and sat and watched a swan and some Egyptian geese grazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then headed through the village taking a few pics of anything that took my fancy.

 Straußwirtschaft

And another one

 

The Straßewirtschaft are really just the winzers (wine growers) houses that are allowed to sell wine direct to the public at certain times of the year, they may also sell it by the glass under the pretence of sampling, they may also have a simple (or in some cases not so simple) food menu. Along with this many run pensions (B&B) you can be sure of a very reasonable nights sleep with good wine and a hearty breakfast in the morning.

 The town square with the wine fountain

An old wine store made out of Eifel volcanic slate

A rose sporting the morning dew

The Church of St ???

 

 

 

 

A wine press now used only for ornimental purposes all the wine is now pressed by hydraulics and stored in stainless steel vats until bottled. 

 

I returned via the vineyards (and a wine tastings) of St Urban a wine producer that sits amongst the vines above the town

 

Climbing up the steep sloped vinyards with in the main white Riesling grapes with some Rivaner, this goes mainly into making the Mosel sparkling sekt wines. 

But also some of the red Dornfelder grapes that go to make up a semi dry red wine.

 

 eventually returning in quite a sweat I time for a spot of late lunch (more of the same).

The meals continued in much the same vein, interspersed with Kaffee und Küchen, that typical German afternoon pastime that equates to our cream tea of scones and jam.

That evening was roast sucking pig (s) as there were two of them and pot roast beef with onion sauce, plus all of the rest of the goodies.

The weekend was as usual a great success, I didn’t get on a Mosel trip (though I have the past twice), but that is something to look forward to when I get my camper, as this is a must tour for the future.

In two years it's off to the Lower Saxony, to heath and moor landscape, no wine grown there, but plenty of heidschnucken, wild mushrooms and blueberries