Hello Winter, Goodbye Wine Hikes
/Making new friends while tasting local wine? Yes please!
So I'm more than a little sad that it's time for my last Vineyard Wine Hike of the season tomorrow. I premiered this "tour" in April and it's quickly become my favorite for a few reasons. For starters, it's quite informal. Instead of the typical city tour where I walk, a group follows, I talk for 5 minutes, we walk on, I stop, talk, etc. the Vineyard Wine Hike is far more unstructured and variable. And we're spending hours walking together, drinking wine, eating - which gives me a chance to get to know my tour guests. Instead of feeling like the tour "leader" it's a more relaxed experience.
I also love it because it's enabled me to enjoy new places. I always try to include at least one "Besenwirtschaft" on the tour, but because of the seasonal and ever-changing schedule of these types of institutions, I sometimes have to get creative about our route to the new besen that's open this week, which means it's as much an adventure for me as it is for the tour guest.
View to the Royal Mausoleum on 8 November 2014 hike. The colors are amazing!
The third reason is hey, I get paid to drink wine and nerd out about history. That's pretty much my idea of a dream job.
But the weather is changing, the harvest is over, and most of the vineyard besenwirtschaften are closing until Spring. So tomorrow's special Veterans Day Wine Hike is probably the last one until next April (unless we get a string of just awesome, unseasonably warm weather!)
And there's still space left on the tour! Better yet, for former and current servicemembers, there is a 10 euro discount on the cost of the tour! The tour includes transportation to and from the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof as well.
The vineyards are absolutely lovely, and some sun is predicted for tomorrow, so go ahead and make a reservation! I'm accepting reservations until 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning!