Rheingau and Rheinhessen: Wine life

maipenquynh on 11. October 2024

I don't want to trivialise alcohol consumption. But if I want to talk about the region in which I now live, I can't avoid wine and what goes with it. Slowly but steady, I am absorbing the knowledge and information about the way of life in this region. The following are personal impressions and supplied without liability; please understand and correct if necessary.

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I'm beginning to understand the regions (plural!) here and what they are called. I learnt that Mainz is in Rheinhessen. This is very misleading, as Mainz is also in Rhineland-Palatinate (a german state, Hesse is another state). The Rheingau is its neighbour and is actually in Hesse. Just mentioning things rarely helps me understanding and picturing things so here is a map of german wine-growing areas on Wikipedia: map. Rheinhessen and Rheingau are marked there. Maps are very helpful so I recommend taking a quick look.

When the days get longer and the temperatures rise, there are wine festivals everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I'm not exaggerating. There's one happening every weekend. There are so many wineries around!

Without being able to make a geographical mapping of what belongs where or where it comes from - important for wine or grape juice: Spundekäs. Spundekäs is made out of cream cheese and our favourite way to eat it is with crispy salted pretzels. If it is not at home but outside our home, we love to sit on an ale-bench in a Straußenwirtschaft in the warm sunlight. It does have its own charm.

I have brought along a few photos of wine events I have attended. A little insight into my wine life in the Rheingau and Rheinhessen.

Straußenwirtschaft is tidied up as it had rained shortly before

Wikipedia is great: The (german) article about Spundekäs says that it's coming from northern Rheinhessen. „Straußenwirtschaft“ seems to be a term from Rheinhessen, though I have seen it in Rheingau as well.

Photo 1+2
Camera + lens: Minolta Dynax 7000i + Minolta AF 50 mm f/1.4
Film: ILFORD FP4 PLUS
Development + scan: ON FILM LAB

Photo 3
Camera + lens: Olympus XA2
Film: Kodak Gold 200
Development + scan: ON FILM LAB

Internet findings (3)

maipenquynh on 6. October 2024

💻 | 📚 Tiny neighborhood libraries
I'm currently in a phase of paying a lot of attention to libraries. Has the frequency of library content always been like this and I haven't noticed or has it actually changed and now there's been more?
Library content 1: Jim takes photos of Tiny neighborhood libraries in the States and I think this is a beautiful photo motif. I've never seen anything like this in Germany - but if I ever come across one, I know what I'll do!

💻 | 📚 Bibliothek
Library content 2: Flow im Ohr writes about his experiences with the Bibliothek (library) in Kiel and shares his thoughts on the opportunities that libraries offer to society - and how these are (not) utilised.

💻 | 🐝 Klein, aber auffällig – die Gemeine Sumpfschwebfliege
In case I haven't mentioned it before: Unfortunately, I have very little knowledge of flora and fauna in general and the local flora and fauna in particular. Elke shows interesting things about local flora and fauna which are worth to see and learn about. The pattern of this fly (Gemeine Schwebefliege) is quite extra!

🎧 | ➗ Maryam Mirzakhani und die Schönheit der Mathematik
The podcast ‘Geschichten aus der Mathematik’ (Stories from mathematics) is not that old, I've just realized. The first episode I listed to was the episode about Maryam Mirzakhaniis not that old as I have just realized. My first episode I listened to was the episode about Maryam Mirzakhani. The intro sentence telling she was the first mathematician to receive the Fields Medal (one of the highest mathematical award) piqued my curiosity. The podcast tells the context and explains the maths that was in focus in a way that is also suitable for laypeople. It's incredible and so unimaginable to me what must go on in the minds of mathematicians. What they ‘see’ and what connections and questions arise. Getting a little insight was pretty cool.

🎧 | 📞 Telephobia – Dieser einer Anruf
Having listened to the season finale of season 1, I highly recommend the entire podcast ‘Telephobia – Dieser einer Anruf“ ‘ (Telephobia - This One Call). As the subtitle of the podcast says, it's about that one phone call. This call you have to make to have certainty about something that is bothering you. I really enjoyed the narrative style as well as the personal stories.

just one picture: Grains along the wayside

maipenquynh on 5. October 2024

Grains along the wayside

2024

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Have you ever looked at grain when you've walked past it? It's worth it. At least that's what I think now. I do recommend!

Camera + lens: Minolta Dynax 7000i + Minolta AF 50 mm f/1.4
Film: AGFAPHOTO APX100
Development + scan: ON FILM LAB