Our house aperitif (a mix of grapefruit juice, dry rosé wine, a splash of soda and a thick slice of grapefruit/Greetings from the South of France) is sensationally well received – very refreshing and not too sweet. Light wines, preferably with a little less alcohol (especially for business guests during the lunch service – you don't want to just sell water). Of course, regionality also plays an important role here because guests have long wanted to know more than just where the meat and vegetables come from. A "local" Franconian wine, a wine from the Churfranken region is drunk.
So I sat down with our local winemaker in Großheubach, Ulli Kremer, and discussed these issues. Now we have a "white", a "pink" and a "red" with striking snazzy labels lying in the ice bucket – visible for everyone: wines that are light, easy and digestible to drink, and all with less alcohol too – perfect for the terrace. Things are going well and the guests, restaurateur and also the winemakers are satisfied.
With fantastic summer days, however, there are unfortunately more and more days when you have to react as fast as lightning. Some gusts of wind come so fast that you can unfortunately only watch as one of the big sunshades is torn again or if it gets really ferocious, the struts are broken again – more storm damage. In the meantime, I think we are on our eighth pair of sunshades.
Here in the north-western part of Franconia, there is not so much talk of planting other grape varieties yet, perhaps this will crop up more over the next few years. Our soils and the Burgundy varieties are "still" strong enough to withstand the capricious weather, but these vintage characteristics also make the wine very exciting. Sure, there will always be the battle with fungal diseases and probably with sunburn more often and whether you should/will irrigate or not.
A bigger problem, for us too, is the early budding when there are already warmer days in January and February, which has unfortunately been the case very often in the last few years. When a late frost is announced, it's not just the winegrowers who are quaking in their boots but anyone who knows what is now at stake. When you see the illuminated vineyards on these nights or smell the burnt wood in the fire barrels, it seems almost eerie, but there is also something magical about it – with everyone keeping their fingers crossed and hoping that everything will turn out well…
