Observations & Revelations Gleaned From A Wine Festival.

The many sides to wine.

As you know Bob, two good friends from London and I have been meandering about the various vineyards in search of the perfect sip, along with what seems like a thousand other wine lovers. One could have called us the clones from planet wine as we all walked, talked and drove about with a pouch holding our wine glass dangling around our neck bouncing merrily against the stomach. Just to clear up any misunderstanding...most of us guarded that wine glass with our lives as we understood that without it, no tastes would be forthcoming.

Day one saw everyone in good cheer and excited about the forthcoming attractions. The last time many of us sat on a bus might have been in our school days and at least for me, sitting in a bus took me back to high school and observing life passing by the window. Buses haven't changed much and after the first few corners even I instinctively knew how to lean into them. A few brave ones were obviously not so long out of school as they were perfecting the art of standing on a bus with a glass of wine in hand...

This year the crowd was more on the younger side which I realized when an email was sent to us, extolling the need, demand and virtue for the newly created app ( bus schedules and locations of wine estates ) for this event. Let's be honest, it was most likely due to the fact that reading maps and bus schedules is a dying art.

Our friends downloaded this app but as it turned out the old school bus timetable was much easier and faster to decipher. Remember, if we had read it wrong a long walk would have been our reward. After seven all bus services stopped. Walking home after a long day spent sampling wine is not that fine. On Saturday I took my step counter along and lo and behold we clocked up over 15 kilometers. Thankfully between the four of us we managed to hop onto the last bus to Eisenberg from Deutsch Schützen on Saturday and Rechnitz on Sunday.

A wine festival such as ours is a great equalizer as wine was the name of the game and people from all walks of life were happy to strike up conversations, give recommendations and most importantly, drop their urban shield of protection for a more trusting demeanor. Just about everyone we met, passed or sat next to in the last two days was happy, cheerful and carefree...there's more to wine after all.

Biggi