A perfect bottle of wine to celebrate, we found this Washington State wine to be perfectly suited for our dishes. A must try for you German/Alsatian Riesling fans!!! Very peachy, nice minerals, just a hint of sweet - plus you get that "Everybody was kung fu fighting" song in your head. Bonus.

This glass of deliciousness deserves her own spot... and for good reason. If you remember, we had an amazing white Tempranillo at Ikarus on V-day (a typically red wine but we had this rare white breed) so now we present something that is usually white (a gruner veltliner) but we were served a RED Veltliner. REVELATION. Slightly caramel taste and a rare treat as the grapes need a LOT of attention so it's not produced often. So much love and effort went in to this bottle... and we appreciated it wholly.

A beautiful white wine from Styria. A cuvée of Sauvignon blanc and Welschriesling. Grown on a slate ground it gave this beautiful mineral feel. Perfect for the menu and absolutely reasonably priced at 27.

Can you guess the theme for this restaurant? Leaping deers on the menu, little antlers on the wall... all making us thirsty for more of that refreshing local Riesling.

Now here was a total find in this expensive city - a business lunch kinda place with a beautiful patio and view AND totally affordable menus for lunch! Start it off with one of several open white wines in a big ole ice bucket and you've got a winner! This Riesling was crisp, clean and delicious. Mr. C was sucking it down like no tomorrow...

Mr. Carastian had to take some business partners out for dinner - and of course, he decided on a place that he NEVER has been, that is around for not that long (and actually is in the location of Chameleon that his dear friend and wonderful Restauranteur that runs Les Cuisiniers was associated with before moving on). And boy oh boy. It was a GREAT evening. Not only Mr. Carastian thought it but as well the business partners were raving about this wonderful evening. This was a great wine from their small but excellent wine menu, an Austrian Sauvignon Blanc, light yet elegant with notes of wild herbs, fennel, mango... dowser. Note the place has been called Kleinschmecker and now Hoiz. But is run by the same crew

Mrs. C thoroughly enjoyed her carafe of house wine - complete with a whole bucket of ICE!!! In BAVARIA!!! They must be RICH!!!

A nice (Bottomless) glass of Gruener Veltliner perfect for a wonderful night of food - AKA the opening night gala of the Kulinarischer Herbst (culinary fall). Each fall these 9 Chiemgauer restaurants create a dining program where you get a passbook to collect stamps at each one, during the 9 weeks. They each offer a special fall menu for the event, which opens with a gala party (which these next posts will be covering) and then finishing up with a gala evening (which we hope to attend again this year in January). This year is the 20th anniversary, so a very special program is planned from this wonderful start to the fireworks finish. Let's see what each of the 9 restaurants had to offer us for a sampling - the cost was 20 EUR with drinks and all you could sample from each INCLUDED. Amazing....

To toast Mr. Christian Bale in his great movie American Hustle. After finding another empty seat close to the family (but for enough from my former seat buddies) it was finally time to relax for Mr Carastian and watch some good movies! Tasty little white wine I'd say a Sauvignon and enough to even get an hour of sleep out:-)

Crisp tasty wine on MUC to IAD:-) making a business trip more pleasant ;-)

A crisp glass of GV, views of the castle (sorry it didn't make it into the shot due to the sun angle!) and this meal is already starting to shape up in an epic way.

Perfect white wine cuvée from Baden Württemberg. Hints of Papaya, Guave, Mango, Litschi, white pepper Lime, Maracuja.

Crisp, clean, delicious - when in Austria you MUST drink a Vetliner.

Per special request from the little Carastian, we went to the Lindners, a beautiful old castle converted to a top notch hotel with sensational restaurant(s). As much as possible they do all organic. next to the business the family owns as well http://www.herbaria.com/1/0/2/index.html. great spices and herbs. This Grüner Veltliner is a beautiful crisp and light white from Austria - perfect for lunch ;-) Update to 2018: sadly the quality and variety has gone down hill. We hope that seeing those blasts from the past helps to push them into the direction of former perfection

to celebrate our last dinner with a nice white wine. hints of peaches, apricots a little it of lemon and not too oaky. loved it.

Good bye MD and hello VA! Gotta love a hotel that hands out free wine every day at five :-) and it was good!!!

Nothing says "high class" like a wine list that has only two choices - red or white house wine. Hmmmmm... tough choice...

Wine with a view! Too bad this restaurant could not deliver the goods... it's perched up in the hills with a stunning view of Chiemsee and the surrounding Alpine foothills. The wine was crisp like an autumn leaf...

How do modern parents survive an afternoon of singing and dancing Sesame Street characters (celebrating their 40th year of entertainment!)? Easy! A glass of white wine drank in 7 minutes flat before the curtain rises, and then a second one in 10 minutes for the intermission. Parenthood. Winning!

An exciting new menu item (fall special!) the first samplings of young wine that has just started to ferment. Bubbling out of the bottles, it's a sweet treat with very little alcohol. Mostly just refreshing and tasty!

Great wine list - including this tasty riesling from Alsace, where we were just a few months ago. Check the board as you come in for a full list of wines to go... in bags!

Good wine to wash down a beautiful salad with. Made all the tastier by sitting outdoors in this local farm cafe.

With the smoky toilet water fiasco behind us, we happily tucked into this nice bottle of wine. Crisp, summery, bold enough to stand up to some spicy pasta.

a nice and crisp wine in the recently re-re-re-re-...(don't really recall how often they relaunched that thing) opened Schrannenhalle. Munichs closest thing to e.g. Covent garden. An old former market hall, now filled with upscale food and eatery places. Little Carastian and Mr. Carastian ended up at the french "oh la la la" (Seriously) as a Flammkuchen was the only thing that could deteriorate him from his mission to get Pommes. And Papa liked the outlook of this crisp, citrusy, clean Sauvignon blanc.

ohhh weee... what a joy for Mrs. Carastian - when driving back from Strasbourg we passed a gigantic carrefour - which she has very fond memories of when living in Nice. So we stopped and as if the wine we already had is not enough we had to stack up on more Alsatian Riesling. this one (obviously not in a Carrefour anymore) was enjoyed after we returned. beautiful Riesling with a very clean taste.

Mrs. C was full steam ahead with MORE WINE!!! A crsip, citrusy Riesling that went PERFECTLY with our tasty vittles (coming up next!).

So begins our second gem find in Luxembourg - this cozy little Italian joint tucked away on a residential side street. From the outside a tiny little door opens up into a small restaurant, but then you discover their gorgeous backyard garden space. Lovely! This house white wine was a fine start... and things just got better.

Random winefest on our road trip - stumbled upon the largest wine festival in the region which crowns the "wine queen' every year. We didn't see the lass, but we did taste the grape juice. This wonderfully dry and crisp white burgundy is from a very progressive wine maker (the first to make ice wine in this region).

The best thing about this meal (and really the only good thing about this meal!). Hmmmm wine.

oh yes... let the Riesling binge begin... in Baden Wuerttemberg and on westwards! Light and slightly fruity - and served in this cute little glass/mugs.