Grapes never tasted so good...

Last Tuesday we took the train to Mullheim and then a bus to the little town of Laufen. It's amazing the places you can go on a little transportation pass called the Regiocard. The Germans definitely had their heads in the right place when deciding to focus on public transportation (or when they decided to invent currywurst...yum!). Ten minutes on the tram gets me to gelato in the city center, a fifteen minute ride to the train station, and twenty minutes to the park.

In Lawrence, it's fifteen minutes just to get to a Dillons...by car. It's going to be so strange coming home and realizing that oh, I have to hop in my car, emit a ton of CO2, find a parking space, and do the same thing to get home just to buy a stick of butter. Oh I do love Lawrence congestion, hills, and potholes.

The area around Laufen is known for its vineyards. Hills rolled along the countryside, covered with rows and rows of vines, basking in the early afternoon sun.

Once in town we walked to Weingut Wendelin Brugger, a family-owned organic winery. I'd never seen such a picturesque house. A large garden surrounded the house, filled with flowers with such enchanting smells I actually smiled at the scent of them. We were ushered into their living room, where tables set with baskets of bread, fresh flowers, and crystal clear wine glasses awaited us.

I couldn't believe I was at my first wine tasting. Me, the girl who can't tell a Pinot Grigio from a Merlot and drinks box wine at dinner. Clueless, I just followed our hostess' lead, swirling the wine, smelling it before taking a sip, gently tasting it on my tongue before swallowing.

Alright, so I looked the part but still had no idea what I was doing. All I knew though, was that the wines were delicious and the flush on my face was proof.

Since it's such a small operation, the family does all of it's fermenting, processing, packaging, and storing in a large cellar behind the house. Our hostess, Lisa, the daughter-in-law of the owner, explained to us their family's determination to go organic and to keep their operations small. Though they had the ability to expand, to hire workers, to apply for standards and certifications and other pieces of papers with gold stars on it, they chose to remain family oriented and to, as she said, "make wine the way we want to." Money wasn't so much the issue as family and tradition were.

In our "get rich quick", "go big or go home", money-hungry society, it is rare and refreshing to see a business focus on not only what is financially viable, but beneficial for the family and environment as well. Seeing this multi-generational family live and work under one roof, the grandfather working alongside his son, their family history written into the vineyards they tend, the granddaughter picking cherries from the tree on their land, reminded me of a time not so long ago when family values, respect, and tradition were what we lived by.

After the last bottle was drank and gone, we all scampered to buy our own bottle. We went home that day, our bellies full of wine, our backpacks full of bottles, our hearts full with something indescribable but very very enriching.