Petes-Pix: Romantic Rhine & Moselle

My Books

"Pinotage: Behind the Legends of South Africa's own wine" is available on the ibookstore

Learn more about my new book telling all about Pinotage and read sample pages at
pinotagebook.weebly.com

A I Perold's
A Treatise
on Viticulture
A I Perold (1880-1941) was South Africa's first Professor of Viticulture and Oenology. He dedicated himself to improving the quality of grapes for wine, brandy and the table. He studied wine and brandy production in Europe, imported more than 60 varieties to the Cape and bred new ones. Perold said this book “is intended to serve both the student and the practical grape-grower. There are in it technical passages that will appeal more to the student, e.g. the chapters dealing with the biology of the vine, its external and internal morphology, the theory of grafting. My remarks on the practice of viticulture, such as those dealing with the propagation, manuring and pruning of the vine, the production of table grapes for export, will, it is hoped, assist the practical grape-grower as well as the student.” This is a newly typeset reprint, not a photocopy. Text on the 712 pages have been aligned to match the original pagination so any external references to pages in the Treatise will be valid in this edition
Available in paperback and hardback editions. 712 pages

A Year in Paarl
with
A I Perold

Dr Perolds report on his Paarl experiments 1915 - 1916 reprinted with glossary, introduction and brief biography. Fascinating historical document on viticulture for wine and table grapes, wine and brandy making.

17 August 2024

Romantic Rhine & Moselle - Alsace

Day13 – Friday 17 August 2024

When we woke the boat was moored in an industrial area at Kehl.

https://what3words.com/shave.passion.marbles

There were two excursions to Strasbourg, but we took the one that went at 08:30 to Alsace Wine Region. First we had a guided walk through the town of Obernai.

Then we went to Domain Albert Seltz in the village of Mittelbergheim - https://www.albert-seltz.fr

Albert Seltz

Albert himself greeted us and presented the tasting. He is amusing and very, very opinionated. He made bold, sometimes outrageous, statements and is passionate about organics and his wines were just as distinctive. The domain has been making wine since 1576, but when the local grape Sylvaner became unfashionable and replaced by other varieties Albert Seltz took a stand for the grape that ancestors of the area had grown and he went to court to get Sylvaner recognised as a Grand Cru appellation.

His wines were so complex and multi-layered and unlike any I’d had of those varieties. They were really exciting. We tasted

Albert Seltz Sylvaner Grand Cru Vieilles Vignes 2018 AOC

Albert Seltz Riesling Brandluft 2016 AOC

Albert Seltz Pinot Gris Grand Cru Zotzenberg 2018 AOC

Albert Seltz Gewurtztraminer Cru Zotzenberg 2018 AOC.

Price of above wines was between €25 and €50 a bottle, and there were several takers.

Albert said that if we didn’t like a wine it was because we didn’t understand it, and we should never say ‘I don’t like this wine’, instead we should say ‘I don’t understand it’.

He was the 14th generation of his family to run the winery, and he’d changed its name from his father’s to his, and expected that his son would do likewise in turn.

We walked back through the quiet village to the coach and back to the ship for lunch, where the boat was now rafted to starboard with Emerald Destiny.

The menu listed Rigatoni all Arrabiata, spicy tomato sauce. But the sauce was plain tomato: it didn’t contain any of the chilli that is a requirement of Arrabiata. The chef said some people didn’t like spiciness so they just served a plain tomato sauce. I suggested that people who didn’t like spice wouldn’t ask for Arrabiata especially when the menu said it was spicy. He shrugged.

In the afternoon there were shuttles to/from Strasbourg and at 17:00 two entertainers gave an entrancing musical show with 50 hand bells. These were cow-bell shape and shaken downward.

This was followed by the dreaded ‘disembarkation talk’ where the assumption is that all the passengers are so thick that everything needs to be explained in excruciating detail.