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

Reflection in the Allgäu

maipenquynh on 27. September 2024

A few months ago, I came across Christopher's blog blitzeria and his photo projects. I was hooked straight away and always had it in the back of my mind, but somehow I didn't find the right thing.

But now I'm ready! And bring along a reflection from the Allgäu, a region in south Germany. This is a very recent picture - very unusual for me!

We hiked on the Wandertrilogie (hiking trilogy) and did stages 7 and 8 of the Wasserläufer (water strider) route - with more or less modifications along the hike. Lakes and cows are an integral part of these routes and I couldn't help but take a picture of the Alat lake.

Photo project: Spiegelungen by blitzeria.eu

Camera: iPhone 13 Mini