[Blaufränkisch] Berninger Wine - no, not Beringer

jessicarlo.blogspot.com - I'm so gratified to see that my blog post titled Devil Chix a couple of weeks ago had a fun effect. I was invited to dinner with some friends just before Easter and they served this:

Plus, another friend and I made these on Easter:

We named them, back row from left: Puppy Chick, Blue Chick, Fat Chick, Minion Chick, Sunglasses Chick, Groucho Chick. Front row from left: Jealous Chick, Clown Chick, Ran-Out-Of-Filling-So-Used-Cheese-Spread Chick, Regular Chick, Jealous Chick II.

But I digress. This week I want to describe a wonderful evening at a Weingut (winery) that I recently enjoyed with my husband and German "parents," Hilde and Adi.

We visited Weingut Restaurant Berninger in a small town called Zeil-am-Main. It's near Bamberg, where I lived for a few years until last fall. For the record, the place is a family business run by Jürgen und Ute Berninger, address: Ziegelanger 33, 97475 Zeil a. Main, Germany.

I'd been to Berninger a couple of times before with Hilde and Adi; this time my husband joined us. Here was the courtyard and vineyards on this fine spring evening as we arrived:

As with most wineries in the region, the grapes are grown on the estate and made on the premises by the family and staff. Then, at the restaurant, the wine is featured, along with local traditional cuisine.

Here are a couple of the wines we sampled:

This beautiful bottle is a sweet white called Bacchus, which is also the name of the grape variety. I love the name because it's named after the Roman god of wine and intoxication. Although I generally prefer red wines, I love the aroma of Bacchus wine - it smells just like white grape juice.
Notice on the label that it says "Deutscher Qualitätswein." The literal translation is "German Quality Wine." However, it's actually a legal classification set by the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweinguter or VDP (German Wine Regulations). Qualitätswein is an inexpensive, everyday wine. Its grapes must have reached 15 degrees of natural sugar content and the label must bear the name of the wine-growing region. In this case, Ziegelanger Ölschnabel (I think). This region's name hilariously translates as "Long Goat Oil Beak."
There is one category below Qualitätswein, which is table wine, and that's called Landwein or Tafelwein on the German label. The grapes have to come from a vineyard that could produce Qualitätswein, but the sugar content only has to reach 14 degrees.
The next bottle here is the Berninger Rotling, or what we in America would call rosé, made from mixing red and white wines together:

Its label states Deutscher Prädikatswein, among other things. This designation is the third and highest category of German wine. Prädikatswein must be made of ripe grapes with a higher sugar content than the other designations. Also, a maximum of three grape varieties can be included in the wine, with 85% of the wine coming from the variety mentioned on the label. Aside from sulfur, no preservatives can be used. The label must bear the wine region's name and the wine must be made in that region.

Within the Prädikatswein category there are several levels depending on natural sugar content and other factors. This label has the word Kabinett. This means that the grapes have at least 19 degrees of natural sugar content, which is the lowest level for this category. The alcohol content hovers around seven percent for this wine.

Of course, we had to accompany our wines with wonderful food! Here is a shot of my husband's Jägerschnitzel in keeping with last week's blog post:

And Hilde's Zwiebelbraten (onion roast):

And Adi's Schweinelendschen (pork loin):

And that was our wonderful evening out!

Don't forget to subscribe to my blog using one of the links above on the right. If you do so by June 1 and let me know in a comment below, I'll send you a free recipe for Jägerschnitzel sauce using wine instead of cream. In any case I hope you subscribe whether you want the recipe or not.

Have a great week!

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