Let me explain how I have come to this reasoning:
Last night, I went out with my roommate and her internship colleagues for a party. When my roommate invited me earlier in the week, she mumbled something about wine, and I knew that I had no choice but to attend. It is wine season, after all. I really had no idea what I was getting myself into - I just knew to show up at her office with things to grill.
As soon as I arrived at the office, I was packed into a car (nicely) and whisked off to the Rheinland countryside. Shortly thereafter, we arrived at a winery in Engelstadt, a small village known as a Weindorf, well, because everything in this town revolves around wine. Perfect. We unpacked our food into a small kitchen, then were escorted into a lovely courtyard, where a tractor pulled open-air trolley awaited us. The owners passed around shot glass-esque glasses for each of us for sampling, then we were divided into two groups for a tour and to sample. I was delegated to the samplers group. We sat a long table in the courtyard to which one of the owners brought out a large case with twelve or so different bottles of wine - all of which we made and bottled on site. We selected our first bottle and sampled while the owner explained to us everything you could possibly want to know about that type of wine.
We successfully sampled four or five wines in the half hour it took for the first tour. My sampling group then boarded the trolley (with more bottles of wine) for our adventure. We were driven through the town and up the hill to the vineyard. At the top of the hill the owner stopped the tractor so we could pour more wine. The view that welcomed me was breathtaking. Rolling green hills stretched the entire landscape, speckled with little red-roofed villages. And to top it off, one of the most beautiful sunsets I had seen in a long time. After the wine was poured, we continued through rows and rows of grape varieties that led to even more scenic outlooks. The owner stopped in one row to show us how they determine when the grapes are ready to be processed using a sugar reading devise (I think it read sugar levels...). And then we played with the vineyard lawnmowers - sheep. Who doesn't love sheep?
We rode back down the hill to the winery and started to grill over a fire pit. We continued well into the night, eating, singing (I pretended to sing, since I didn't really know any of the songs), and enjoying endless bottles of wine. I really do live in the most beautiful place in the world.
lg,
Lauren
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