Hello Hello Hello! Several things have happened recently, the first thing is what this post will be about: my Trip to Berlin. The other thing, I might just make a post about that as well, is that I have just become an Apprentice on the first of August, that means I have started a three year apprenticeship… I will be going to school again, yipee?
Hey that is a Dinosaur isn’t it? Damn straight, that is the infamous Tyranosaurus Rex, super tertiary stuff that has aged super gracefully. This bad boy is no younger than 70 million years and still going strong. Ok ok, he might not be the most dangerous or most intelligent anymore, judging by his apparent lack of brain, but he sure was interesting to look at. I believe this one was amongst the biggest intact T-Rex fossils in the whole world. It is located in the Naturkundemuseum in Berlin. That specific museum also holds the biggest fully mounted fossil in the world, specifically that of a Brachiosaurus which is 13.27 meters tall. They also have one of only 10 fossils of the Archaeopteryx, a small bird-like-reptile-monster-hybrid-dinosaur that is widely agreed to be the most famous fossil of all time. Interesting stuff, but there was more than just Dinosaurs. For example, there was a massive collection of taxidermied birds and modern land animals, some of which strongly reminded me of Dinosaurs themselves. I guess in a way they didn’t completely vanish. Besides that they also had one exhibition room that was more of a walk-around of one of their many archives, this one holding thousands of jars with fish, of all things. Pickled fish almost, just not that tasty I imagine.
What about wine?
Obviously there was wine, what would life be without it? I’ll write it down in the wrong order just because I can. I visited two long time Bucketlist places of mine, the Planet Wein and the Bar Freundschaft. Planet Wein is a wine store that I have known about for basically all my wine journey, it was pretty much what started my wine interest, or more so the show that was produced in it. It’s only available in german, but the Webweinschule was what brought me to think about wine in a more detailed way, and what teached me most of my early knowledge upon which I expanded my palate. You can find it here! The wine store was really the same store that I also saw in the videos, but I always thought it would be loads bigger, 3 or 4 times bigger. Alas I was very happily greeted in this store by Anja Schröder, who is the owner of the store and co-moderator of the Webweinschule, such a wonderful woman with a small but amazing selection of wines. I bought a wine based on her recommendation and without any preference in style, which I will happily talk about on this website once the time has come. For now I want to recommend this store to everyone regardles of who you are, just go there.
The Bar Freundschaft
No visit to the german Capital is proper without visiting this place at least one time. That is a fact, no matter if you like wine or not, this place is ridiculous in the most positive sense that there is. It was honestly always a big dream of mine to visit this place, I heard some great things about it, but most importantly: Willi Schlögl, the co-owner and one of the Sommeliers in the bar runs a Podcast about wine. This Podcast, Terroir und Adiletten is the name, has been with me for the better part of 3 years now, it started right around the time when I first started to learn about wine, what a coincidence. On the Podcast Willi and Curly invite various guests over to talk about wine, all of them bring a few bottles that represent them and their stories, and then they just talk. It’s really amazing stuff and an absolute favorite of mine, even if the sea of wine podcasts is immense. I went there two times, on two consecutive days, yet the day I remembered most was the second. It was a tuesday, 6:30 pm, right after opening. The first thing that struck me was the amount of people that this place lured in on a tuesday. Granted it was the middle of summer and many people didn’t have to work, or were simply on holiday, it was still very surprising for me. I myself come from a place in germany where I am sometimes surprised that a Restaurant is full on any day but saturday. People were ordering bottles and glasses left and right, and the service was incredible. It was fast, precise, organized and welcoming. Even talking to the boss himself I didn’t feel intimidated by the atmosphere of it being a fine dining establishement, because the people all treated you like a friend.
The first wine I ordered was almost completely random; I tasked Willi with bringing me a bottle of wine for less than 100€, that he would drink himself whenever he could. The result was this:
Christoph Polz – Welschriesling 2022
What a boring name. Not a boring wine, infact the wine was relatively amazing for the 85€ it ended up being (note these prices are inflated, they include the service after all). The wine itself comes from the Hochgrassnitzberg, a single vineyard site in the Steiermark, most famous for Sauvignon Blanc and some Chardonnay (locals claim it’s name to be Morillon), not so much for the given grape. This wine has some Oak influence, but really only a super small amount. On the nose there was some reduction at first, slowly opening up to caramel and toffee, but only few fruity. It had a certain round sensation, it wasn’t a full aroma but there was certainly something present that reminded me of smoothnes or roundnes. On the palate the wine had moderate to high acidity, no real fruit notes but a noticeable touch of wood influence. I loved this wine, I rarely taste Welschriesling (in italy you will often find this grape as Riesling Italico), so this was just an amazing refresher from all the Riesling that I know normally.
Oh man this was amazing. This is what was probably my favorite part of the evening. Not the amazing interactions with the staff or the great wines I got to taste, it was the food I got. One of the most simple foods at that, Leberkas. Leberkas is basically a big amalgamation of meat, this one being 100% veal, refined with spices, herbs and mustard, although different producers add different details. Some add bellpepper, some add chilli, everything goes if it tastes good. This one was done by a master: Hannes Hönegger from Salzburg, often claimed as the one master at Leberkas and a staple of high quality meat in Austria. This Leberkas was refined with a very fine cheese, I can’t exactly say which, that was perfectly integrated and just completed the texture of the otherwise very finely ground meat. The sauce was simple hot mustard, ontop of that a bit of sour dough bread and the perfect wine.
Maximin Grünhaus – Abtsberg Kabinett 2022
Just a perfect sipping wine, slightly sweet, acidic and young in the right way, very refreshing and nice to drink. It was fruity, but there was also this typical minerality that I tend to find in good Mosel Kabinet (even if this is technically from the Ruwer). It paired exceptionally well with the Leberkas too, complementing the savoury aspect of it in a nice way. I don’t know what makes a food and wine pairing good, especially if I think about the fact that I don’t get amazed by all the common contenders like Bordeaux and Steak or the likes. This one hit the spot for me.
Ok this had to be done… This is the most expensive wine they had on the menu.
Louis Roederer – Cristal 2015
In all fairnes I did not decide to get this wine out of a sudden willingnes to waste my money, it was more so the interest of trying something that I can normally only buy for 300€. Given that this glass was 69€ (nice), would I say this was worth it? No. Definitely not, and it’s not something that I will order again, but it was a good chance to get a glimpse into what big bubbles can do. As per what the wine itself was; finely bubbling, highly acidic and extremely structured, a massive profile of things that I couldn’t pinpoint because this was mostly all over the place. It was big stuff that I couldn’t just sip, and this glass took me some time to get through as well. Nonetheless a super interesting wine that I deem very age worthy, I would love to try older examples and see where this has gone with a few more years.
And that was basically it. I had to take a picture with the boss himself, Willi Schlögl, and it turned out to be super blurry, but without it I would not be any happier. All the people I met on this trip were amazing, the wines I got to taste were exciting and the service was the best I ever got to experience. In conclusion this trip was a full success and I recommend everyone that reads this (if anyone) to visit Planet Wein and the Bar Freundschaft in Berlin as soon and as often as they can. Wonderful stuff.
Cheers!
