This weekend saw me heading out to the Elbe river between Dresden and Meißen. Wine has been cultivated in the valley here for centuries – and this weekend (following  hint from a friend) there was an open winery event, with many wineries open to the public including special programs, offers and entertainment – and a (not overly well organized) shuttle bus between wineries.

This wine growing region here is one of the smallest in Germany – and given that, its output and its (relative) geographic isolation (in the far east of Germany), the region and its wines are fairly little known in the rest of the country.

So the weekend turned out a major exploration … the one side of course being the (for me completely new) landscape of the Elbe valley from the river up to the steep slopes of the surrounding hills … and then on the other side the viticultural output of that landscape.

The landscape did barely disappoint – the wines were as one would expect, when blindly going on a (massive) wine tasting … some were bad, some fairly average, some good – and the little rest simply amazing.

Below some evidence of the landscape … for the wines, better go and judge yourself – these three might be (in my view at least) good starting points: DREI HERREN, Weingut Schuh and Weingut Vincenz Richter.