Where to go on the Duetcheweinstrasse?

Good morning all,

I will be spending Christmas in Germany this year and I'm looking for recommendations on where to stop on the Weinstrasse. I know where I like to pick up a bottle or two from previous visits, but I'm wondering where you folks, the 'experts', would go.

Another stop we'll be making is in Ruedesheim with a tour group. The itinerary speaks of touring the world-famous Drosselgasse & wine-tasting in various cellars there. I understand there is also a nice Christmas Market there. We cap off the night w/ a 3-hour cruise on the Rhine. Any good recommendations for this town?
EDIT: I just found this list of wineries in Ruedesheim...
http://www.xn--rdesheim-65a.de/en/wein_weingueter.html

Thanks in advance for all of your recommendations!
Pete

Well, while you're there, make sure you have a Rüdesheimer Kaffee, sample some of the various local cognacs, eat some Mainzer Handkäse mit Musik, and have a Römer or two of the Oestricher Lenchen.

Rüdesheim is the biggest tourist town in the Rheingau. There is plenty to occupy your time. I always eat at Georg Breuer’s Rüdesheimer Schloss Restaurant. The food is good and offers a nice departure from what Germans think Americans and Japanese tourists like to eat. And, if you ask nicely they might let you taste next years Berg Schlossberg. The Rhein tour is good, but the onboard wine is an aberration. Bring your own or stick to Sion Kölsch.


Viel Spaß!
Bill

I've stayed in Deidesheim as a base to the Pfaltz a couple of times. There's some wineries that offer a B&B set-up nearby as well, and lots of wineries around the area, and up and down the weinstrasse. But I'm still looking for the perfect winery to stay at, just off the beaten track in that area.

There's a couple of nice restaurants in the town of Deidesheim, one at the Deidesheimer Hof , the hotel on the Weinstrasse in the middle of town, and one right beside the church, just down the road a stone's throw from the Basserman-Jordan winery.

I've enjoyed visiting the following wineries in the region (in no particular order): Darting, Biffar, von Buhl, Fitz-Ritter, Basserman-Jordan, Eugen Muller, Burklin-Wolf, Koehler-Ruprecht, Schaefer, and Lingenfelder. If you have a car, you can visit these and many other wineries quite easily.

Update on the trip...

The Rudesheim trip was disappointing.
Our tour bus was late leaving, so we arrived in town as most of the stores were closing for the day. The town is BEAUTIFUL and we enjoyed walking around and visiting the little booths set-up everywhere. We did pick up a couple of bottles of wine from a dealer our tour guide knew... Weingut Dorwagen.
- 2005 St. Johanner Steinberg Gewürztraminer Auslese
- 2005 Kerner Eiswein -- had the bottle 'personalized'... they had someone in the shop with an engraver and he put the year, our name and a little winter scene above the label

Decided to wait and eat dinner out on the cruise... advertised as stripes of turkey with apple, some cream... blah blah blah. Would have been simpler for them to say "turkey stew". That was yet another disappointing part of the VERY disappointing cruise.
- advertised as a 3 hour Rhine cruise... we spent the 3 hours going in circles of the same 1 1/2 km of the river
- advertised as having a band playing authentic German Christmas music... it was 1 old guy on a synthesizer playing 1970's country... I guess Kenny Rogers "The Gambler" is now Christmas music
- advertised as a fantastic fireworks display... 10 minutes of "alright" fireworks and we were done

Rather than turn this into a novel.... I'll tell about other stops in the next post...

Couple of days later, we drove down to the Deideshimer Advent... military newspaper advertised it as one of the 5 nicest Christmas markets in Europe. VERY nice time!!! Lots of craft booths, wine booths, food booths. Don't know what it was called, but I had some kind of shredded pork with onions & LOTS of garlic. Kids didn't want to try it, but once they did, I couldn't keep them out of my bowl! HAHA Biggest problem... it was COLD outside!!! We're still not used to the German humidity instead of the Colorado dryness. Everyone was numb by the time we got back to the van.

On the way back up the Weinstraβe, we stopped at Winzergenossenschaft Herxheim to pick up a few bottles.
- 4 bottles of Reisling Auslese that my wife really like
- 1994 Silvaner Beerenauslese... they were selling them for 4€... we're wondering what's wrong!!!

We really like the Herxheim winery, even though most folks outside of Germany know of them... we stop there every time we go through.
- 2005 Portugieser Rotwein Troken... had a nice Christmas label

Ouch! Your Rhine 'cruise' sounded like a horror, but at least the Deidesheim market seemed nice. Hope you enjoy the wine!