“Little German,

I just picked up your wine and I am very excited to try it with my friends. I wish you could be here with us.

Cheers,

Joe from Michigan”

Well friends, now I can! That’s right, you can get your very own little me! Take me on vacation, to zee movies und you know I love a good dinner date. Take pictures along zee way und email them to me at snapshots@littlegerman.com. I might just post them in mein gallery!

Zee cut out is free, just pay zee small air fare und I’ll be on mein way! Click here to order yours.

Here are a few of mein favorite photos I have received so far:

With Breast Cancer Awareness Month kicking off in a few weeks, Zee Big Wigs wanted to find a way to help zee cause. They decided to take a stand und say, “Screw Cancer,” with a little help from RELAX® Pink.

Oh, und you of course.

Every time you share #RELAX4TaTas on Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest or upload a photo to zee RELAX Facebook page, und RELAX Wines will donate $1 to zee Save the Ta-Tas® Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises money for breast cancer research und awareness.

We are so excited to help this great organization und know that you are too. So, zee next time you are shopping for wine und see RELAX Pink, take a photo of it und upload it with zee hashtag, or just shout out with zee hashtag! Be sure to check out zee gallery to see photos from others who are helping spread zee word und working to beat breast cancer!

Hello mein friends!
Let me say that I am truly humbled by your overwhelming response to mein Flat little German offer. In only ein few days, tens of thousands you visited mein website for your Flat little German, surprising everyone here – even zee Big Wigs!

If you have already ordered, your Flat little me is on zee way! If you have not yet ordered, you may do so now. Because zee money doesn’t grow on zee grape vines, we are asking our friends to cover $4.95 for zee shipping und handling.

Thank you all for your patience und understanding. I look forward to sharing a bottle of mein fine German Riesling with you very soon!

Order your flat little German now!

As you know friends, Riesling is a grape that is grown all over zee world. What you may not know is that since zee grape is late-ripening, Germany’s moderate climate is ideal to produce perfect mature Riesling grapes.

Actually, it goes beyond zee climate. From zee soil to zee landscape’s slope, zee Mosel Region is truly zee best place to grow zee best Riesling grapes. Zee slopes in this region are steep. I am not talking about a hill, friends. Some of zee slopes are as steep as 65 degrees! This gives zee vines greater exposure to sunlight. Vineyards lining zee Mosel River gain even more sun exposure due to zee reflections from zee water.

Our soil in this region is slate rich, which holds all of zee heat from zee sun well into zee cooler nights. This also contributes to zee mineral characteristic that is unique to German wines.

Of course, zee incline also mean a lot more work for us. It can take up to seven times as long to tend to vines in this region versus a flatter vineyard, but it’s all worth it for a higher quality product.

So yes, friends, zee Riesling grapes are grown all over zee world, but nobody grows Riesling like we do in Germany.

Friends, it’s amazing! From sorbet to salmon und pies to popsicles, there is a recipe out there that uses Riesling as an ingredient! On zee RELAXnation Pinterest page you can find all of these tasty recipes. There are so many that I think you could enjoy a Riesling dish every meal for a week und not repeat a single recipe.

I wanted to share some of mein summertime favorites, but encourage you to look at RELAXnation’s Recipes with Riesling und they also have boards for Wine Cocktails und Cool Treats Pinterest boards, too. If you have a recipe that uses Riesling und it isn’t listed, please tweet it to me so I can share it! Now, enough talking, let’s get to eating (und drinking)!

Riesling Strawberry Slushies

Many of mein friends have been adding frozen fruit to their glass of Riesling, but how about a frozen slushy drink with zee fruit und Riesling? Mein Crispy und Fruity Qualitatswein or RELAX® Riesling are both perfect for this recipe, friends.

Zee Sarasota

Anytime zee directions are as easy as “mix it all together” und taste this good, you have a recipe to put in your cocktail collection. This drink is not only tasty but refreshing! If you wish to use Riesling, try mein Auslese or Spatlese. If you want to use Moscato, then I recommend Fünf Moscato.

Honey Walnut Cake with Riesling Sabayon
Zee cake is already wunderbar, but oh, zee Riesling Sabayon! Friends, it is so tasty und very easy to make. Pour yourself a glass of mein Auslese, too. It goes so well with zee cake und is zee perfect summer treat!

That’s it, friends! Zee perfect way to kick off summer, und just another way to enjoy Riesling!

Last week I shared information about mein Kabinett, Spatlese und Auslese. If you enjoyed that read, then you will certainly enjoy this one, friends! I break down how zee Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese und Eiswein are made und you can learn about zee harvest of zee grapes. For example, did you know Eiswein literally means “ice wine” und that we pick zee grapes after zee first good frost?

Click here to read more!”

Now back to mein point, friends. How winemakers manage zee fermentation has changed considerably. One of zee reasons is for zee safety of those making zee wine! When zee sugar is converted to alcohol it creates carbon dioxide, which as you know can be very dangerous. In zee days of mein ancestors, zee vintners did not have good ventilation in zee cellars, so if there was a leak, carbon dioxide could build up. For that reason they would light candles just about three feet from zee floor. If zee candles went out, then they knew zee cellar needed to be aired out before they entered.

Zee photo above shows an old wine cellar where wine would ferment. Zee one below shows zee fermenters we use today. Isn’t it amazing how things have changed, friends? If you have anymore questions about zee winemaking process, just email me or send me a Tweet!

Photo by Mark Smith

Friends, I am willing to bet you’re reading this blog because you love Riesling. You probably know it goes well with many foods, but do you ever catch yourself sipping mein tasty wines und wondering how it is made? Or maybe where they come from? Have you ever wondered where zee “Kabinett” gets its name? Well, it literally means “cabinet,” which is where winemakers store their best wines! Click here to learn more about zee Kabinett und mein Spatlese und Auslese.

Let me know if you have more questions you would like answered! You can email me or Tweet me any question!

Photo by Fabian Fischer

Part of mein job as a wine ambassador is to educate, but it goes far beyond tasting wine! From storage and aging to cooking with Riesling, I try to cover all things wine all zee time!

Something I have not talked about recently is how to pour your Riesling! I am sure that many of you will invite friends over for a few glasses of Riesling at a get-together or two this summer. Well friends, after reading these tips you can pour wine for your guests like a pro!

Friends, since you’re reading mein blog I am assuming you have at least tried one or two of mein tasty Rieslings, but have you ever wondered how such a fine product is made? If so, keep reading! I have put together all of zee steps involved in wine making, starting, of course, with zee…

Grapes
This part you knew, right? Well, zee grape is zee most important part of zee whole process! From zee type of grape to when it is picked from zee vine, every detail matters. Even zee soil, location, incline of zee landscape und atmosphere affect zee grapes, which is why zee Mosel region is such a desirable place to grow Riesling grapes.

Harvest
Rieslings are late-ripening by nature, und there is a large window of time in which zee grapes are harvested. Zee ripeness of zee grape greatly affects the type of wine produced. To make mein Kabinett, we often pick around September, but it may be earlier or later depending on zee weather that year. For an Eisweins und Beerenauslese, we may be picking as late as December. In fact, this year zee window was so late in zee year that zee 2011 Eiswein harvest was picked in 2012!

Sorting
After zee grapes are picked they are hand-sorted to check zee quality of zee grapes. Only zee highest quality of grapes get past this process, so we take out zee rotten und dried grapes.

Destemming zee Grapes
While some of zee leaves are removed in zee sorting, stems are pulled from zee grapes in a machine, not surprisingly called a destemmer.

Fermentation
White wines, such as mein Rieslings, are pressed to separate zee skins und juices. At this point some wines will ferment naturally with a wild yeast, while others use a dried cultured yeast. Simply put, zee yeast will eat zee sugars und zee bi-product is alcohol!

Press
After zee fermentation is complete zee wine is drained to a press. As you may have guessed, zee wine is literally pressed to make sure we get every last drop of wine. The photo to zee right shows an old wine press.

Aging
All wines are different but after zee wine has been pressed it will go into a cool area, similar to your cellar. Some wines will only age a few months, while others take years. This helps zee wine mature to zee desired product. Some red wines will be aged in oak barrels, but Schmitt Sohne wines are aged in stainless steel tanks.

Bottling
Once zee wine is mature, it will be filtered for clarity und promptly bottled. After that, friends, we ship our wine und it is ready to drink immediately – no aging required! In fact, I recommend drinking zee wine within zee first four years.

That’s it friends! Simply as that, right? Now when you are enjoying a few drinks with friends you can show off your wine knowledge. If you have any questions, please let me know on mein Twitter or Facebook page.”