Although Cologne isn't really
a city of fine wines at first glance, there has been for
the last 30 years a successful event in the middle of
the city dealing with wine from German regions:
Cologne’s Wine Week on
Neumarkt. It's a 12 day event at the end of April
with 25 exhibitors from eight growing regions and
500 different wines in assorted levels of
quality, vintages and varietals. Poured are fine
wines from Baden, Franken, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Nahe,
Rheingau, Rhein- hessen, Rheinpfalz and Württemberg. Most
of the vintners themselves are there and
maintain their own
stands to inform you about their wines. For those with a
little appetite, there are food stands and sweets
available. The Wine Week is opened traditionally by one
of Cologne's deputy mayors, accompanied by the beautiful
„Wine Princess“ of the year with a musical
accompaniment from a folk music corps.
The wine stands are open 11am to
10pm. If you wish to have further information on the Kölner Weinwoche
visit the official website at www.koelner-weinwoche.de
Wine dealers
FUB
WINE RETAIL 4,000
wines from all over the world are sold here. In
addition there are accessories for wine
consumption and deposit. Adress:
55 Heumarkt. more
WINE
BAR INDEN Inden
offers 1,500 wines from just about every corner of
the globe. There are also spirits in barrels and
accessories. Adress:
6 Breite
Str.
GALERIA KAUFHOF The „Wine
Paradise“ of the store's food section also
offers a wide range of good wines, which one can
taste, too. Adress:
41 Hohe Str.
The Wine restaurant Vintage
It’s not easy to say whether The
Vintage belongs among Cologne’s best wine locales or
restaurants. Probably both are right. At any rate,
Claudia and Michael Stern as the owners and founders
(1993) have brought the space to a high prize and
exceptional level of quality.
Exceptional obviously is the
wine list of over 900 positions as well. In the
store one can select among the bottles either to
take it with or enjoy it in the restaurant with
its small tables. Anyone wishing for a glass of
wine has the option of 20 open sorts. In the
restaurant let your wine enjoyment
carry over to taster-friendly menu items. Outside of
the the full classic small and full portion delicacies,
The Vintage specializes in wine menu offerings, where
that one can eat different food with different wines.
The collected impression can be deepened with a wine
seminar, which is led by the owner Claudia Stern.
Adress: 31-35 Pfeilstr. Phone 92 07 10.
Open: Mon. to Sat. 11am to midnight, Fri. 11am to 1am.
Sun and holidays closed. On-line at: www.vintage-wine.de.
Beloved varietals in Germany
RIESLING Germany's the most beloved varietal. The grape is
grown on the Mosel, Saar and Ruwer as well as in the Pfalz
and the Rheingau. The color is brilliant
yellow-gold. It tastes classy, light to full
bodied and goes well with fish, cru- staceans, veal, fowl and
asparagus.
KERNER Named
after the poet Justinus Kerner. Grown in the
regions Pfalz, Rheinhessen as well as Württemberg. Cross
between Trollinger and Riesling. The color is
light to straw gold, the taste is mild to classy, full bodied.
Goes well with brats, steaks of pork or lamb.
MÜLLER THURGAU Almost
beloved like Riesling. Grows in Ba- den, Pfalz
and Rhein- hessen. The grape was developed in
1882 by breeder Hermann Müller of Thurgau from
a cross of Riesling and Gutedel. The color is
brilliant to light yellow, the taste is mild. Goes
well with fish or pork.
SILVANER Main growing regions in Germany are Rhein-
hessen, Nahe, Franken and Saale-Unstrut. The color
is brilliant. Taste is mild with fine spice and a
light to full bodied characteristic. The Silvaner
goes well with fish, chicken, veal or meals
combined with asparagus.
SPÄTBURGUNDER The grape's origin is France and is grown in
Germany on the Ahr, in Baden, in the Rhein- gau and
the Pfalz. The color is a brick to deep red. It
tastes soft and smooth with a fine aci- dity
and full body. The wine goes well with game or
bovine as well as cheese.
GUTEDEL The Gutedel
is one of the aged-old grapes, which has been
around since before Christ. In Germany the grape
is grown almost exclu- sively in Baden. The grape
has a light and becomming quality. Goes well with
chicken, fish, crustaceans as well as pork.
Hotel
rooms in Cologne
HOTELS
IN COLOGNE I. Using internet booking machines
it's very easy searching for a hotel room in Cologne.
One of these special search engines is HRS - Hotel
Reservation Service with its many offers. Click the logo
for starting.
HOTELS
IN COLOGNE II: Looking for a hotel room in Germany
there are some other good booking machines on the net
such as HOTEL.de. They also often have some cheap offers
given by good hotels in Cologne. Using the service is
free, too.
Copyright 2005 - NICE
CITY! Cologne
Some good wine bars
Bacchus Weinstube
The Wine local Bacchus offers
predominately German white wines, coupled with fine wines from
international pro- vinces. 40 open wines stand ready for
pouring at Heiner Welchering’s comfortable locale. In the
winter there is a di- verse assortment of reds as well. Wine
seminars are offered. The kitchen offers regional dishes
and vegetarian meals, all of which change with the seasons. Adress: 17 Rathenauplatz, phone 21 19 86.
Beiss'l
The Beiss’l with its nice
ambience in an Art-decco and youthful style is one of the
oldest wine locales in Cologne. Here there are more than 50
wines from Germany, Italy, France and Overseas, as well as a
delicious small plates. Additionally wine seminars are
offered. Adress:
1 Otto-Fischer-Str., phone 41 25 79.
Delix Food & Wine
Wine from Chile, USA, South
Africa and Austra- lia. The focus is on Spa- nish juice, however.
Delix enjoys direct contact with the vintners in Spain and
Italy. The great wines in store can also be bought for take
away to your home. Adress:
72-74 Friesenstr., phone 1 26 02 00. more
Fischers
Weingenuss & Tafelfreuden
"Tafelfreuden" or
"Joy at the table together" is the name of this
restaurants which is both known for good wines and food. It
offers more than 40 wines by the glass and an 81 page wine
list are at your disposal here. Those looking for wine knowledge need look no further. The house offers wine and cooking
semi- nars. Adress: 53 Hohen-
staufenring,
phone 31 08 47 0. more
Hase
Hase (Rabbit) offers a wide selection of all sorts of
wine from France, Ita- ly, Spain, Germany and Overseas. The menu
offers disches from soup to lobster. Adress:
17 St. Apernstr., phone 25 43 75.
Vinoteca da Rino
Mix of noble quick eatery and
wine locale. The dishes come from the same place as the wine:
Bella Italia! Adress: 5 Kolumbastr., phone 257 56 47.
Weinhaus Vogel
The Weinhaus Vogel is
definitely a strange mix- ture between wine locale and
brewery. The offe- ring palatte shows a lot of German and
French wines from various vin- tages. The Kölsch (beer) is
surely always from the new release however! Adress:
74 Eigelstein.
Weinlokal Viertel
The wine locale offers
assorted wines from France, Italy, Spain and Germany as well
as from Overseas. On the menu ther are tasty small pla- tes, as
well as warm flat bread with fresh goat cheese. Adress: 9
Darm- städter
Str., phone 32 91
92.
Wackes
The wine selection is of Alsatian
origin. Paired with the wines is a good kitchen with
specialties from the Alsace region. Adress:
59 Benesisstr., phone 257 34 56. more
Zur alten Wettannahme
No bets (Wetten) are taken
here anymore, because the space relies only on sure and solid
things; witnessed by the 60 open wines like whites from
Germany and reds from France. Additonally there are small
plates, like tapas or a salad. Adress:
16 Alteburger Str., phone 31 89 30.
