Happy Mother's Day!

OK, I'm a couple of weeks late with this post, (ok, more) but the point is the same - Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers we love - our mothers, grandmothers, Godmothers, friends who are mothers, sisters, nieces, mothers to mammals, fish and fowl, you name it.

We just wish you had been HERE on Mother's Day.

Why?

Because Sunday was Sekttag in Germany. In English, that means (basically) Champagne Day. (In my book, you've got to love a country that has a day for such a celebration. And, the fact that it coincided with Mutterstag just goes to show how much moms are worth celebrating. :) But I digress.)

What does one do on Sekttag? Why, head for the Rheingau, of course! That would be one of the major wine-producing areas in Germany, and lucky for us, it's only 30 minutes away. (John can make it in 20 minutes if he drives 160km/hr.)

Cayla stayed with the boys while John and I met a German colleague and his wife for a few winery tours (in German).

We started at Mattheas Mueller, where they make Mumm, Rotkappchen, MM, and Jules Mumm sekt - a really large operation. We learned the difference between sekt (AKA "Cava" in Spain, or more generally, "Sparkling Wine") and champagne - which has to do with the method of fermentation and where the grapes are from...I won't bore you with the details, but if you're interested, you can check it out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparkling_wine. Of course, looking it up online takes away the fun of trying to understand the tour guide explain it in German.

Then we headed to Ohlig: http://www.ohlig-sekt.de/ where we had some really lecker (yummy) sekt and got the inside scoop on making sekt on a smaller scale. Here we had lunch - pflammkuchen, which is similar to a really, really thin pizza, with a cream cheese-like spread and smoked ham and red onions (or other topping) cooked in a stone oven. This seems to be a favorite treat at the "afternoon at the winery with bands and children playing in the sun" events. We dig it.

Finally, we toured Vaux: http://www.schloss-vaux.de/ which isa boutique sekt manufacturer, with perhaps the best sekt I've ever tasted: Lady Vaux. Not my favorite name, but really a fabulous, delicate taste.

At days end, we headed home. Did I mention John could make the drive in 20 minutes going 160km/hr? (That's about 100 mph...and it's considered slow around here if you're in the fast lane.)

So, you see, we would have loved to spend our Mother's Day with you...and perhaps you might have enjoyed it too!!

Much love from the land of Sekt...