We signed up through Centrepoint for a tour and wine tasting at the Domaine Nussbaumer in the Klus Vineyards. We were somewhat late arriving because the train took longer than we had thought, then we hiked a bit along the wrong trail to get there. But we eventually caught up to the tour group just as the walk through the vineyards was ending. We were able to join in for the tour of the wine production area, where the grapes are first started fermenting, and the celler, where there are huge stainless steel fermenting tanks for the wine to form and ferment over a few months or more. This is a rather small operation, and they actually take in harvests from other, smaller vineyards and process their grapes into wine for them. This is a great service for the small vineyards, because then they don't have to worry about the expense and space required for keeping up the equipment.
After this we sat down in the area where they store their oak wine casks, and got to sample some of their wines, with bread, meat and cheese to help soak up the alcohol. They gave us a sample of three different white wines, and three different red wines. Luckily, we were able to pour our own glasses, so my samples were very small, as I am not that much of a wine drinker. It is interesting to taste a small amount of the different kinds, however, and see how different the flavors can be. Our favorite was a red called Strohwein (Straw Wine). It is so named because they originally used mats of straw to dry the grapes on before making them into wine. Now they use plastic netting, and the grapes are dried for a couple of months before they begin the fermentation process. This results in a richer, more complex, and slightly stronger, sweeter flavor than when fresh grapes are used.
I didn't get any pictures inside, but snapped a few as we were leaving.
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