By Berkeley

Many teddy bears, and other creatures, enjoy a glass of wine in the shade during summer months. I made a trip to south Germany in early June to see how this years harvest will turn out.

I visited Durbach, which makes both red and white wines, and had a very good time at their wine festival. Speaking to local wine growers, of which there are many in Durbach, I was told the flowering of the wines was a bit late this year. Later they have had very warm weather and we still don’t know how the autumn will be.

My guessing, and that is what I do best, is that the grapes will be small and sweet and the harvest will not be very big this year. I did taste some excellent wine and I will recommend that you sniff the wine before the first taste.

The over all impression from my very interesting trip is that wine is good either it is red, rose or sparkling, and it is as good in south Germany as elsewhere. Dessert wine is very good too and it goes well with many types of cakes and even chocolate.

Bear Berkeley reporting from Durbach, Germany.