OKTOBER WEINFEST

ANNOUNCING THE GERMAN WINE SOCIETY’S OKTOBER WEINFEST CELEBRATION AT THE GERMAN EMBASSY IN WASHINGTON, D.C. ON SEPTEMBER 20, 2024!

German Wine Society Members and Friends of German Wine,

It is a pleasure to announce that the German Embassy has invited us once again to hold our Oktober Weinfest celebration at the German Embassy House!  For this event, we will once again be enjoying the cuisine of the German Embassy’s new chef, Mikko Kosenen of Mikko Nordic Fine Foods, who also operates a restaurant in Washington, D.C., and was formerly executive chef for the Ambassador of Finland.  And we will be enjoying twelve different German wines, including sparkling, red, non-Riesling dry white, GG Riesling, and Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese Riesling wines.  Please plan to join us to share our love of German wine, at the German Embassy where the German Wine Society began 47 years ago.  

Our “Oktober Weinfest” celebrates the fall harvest season and is being held on the eve of the famed Munich Oktoberfest in Germany., which runs this year from September 21 through October 6.    Oktober Weinfest will take place on the evening of Friday, September 20, 2024, from 6:00 pm to 9:30 pm at the Embassy House of the German Embassy in Washington, D.C., with admission to the Embassy beginning at 6:00 pm.  Below are all the details you will need about the wines, food, registration, payment and getting to the event.   

Registration for this event must be received by Monday, September 16, 2024.   

You can register and pay for events in either of two ways.   

First, you can register on our Washington, D.C. chapter website, https://germanwinesocietydc.org , and make payment by PayPal.   You will need to create a GWS account for the website if you do not already have one, and you will also need to have a PayPal account.  If you are coming as a couple or other group, you can either register and pay for each individual separately, or do it as part of a single transaction and complete the payment on PayPal together.  If you do a single transaction, please also email the Secretary of the GWS Capital Chapter at the address below to provide the names of each individual coming, as we will need a complete list of all attendee names in advance for Embassy security.  

Second, if you prefer to register by mail and pay by check for the event, please clip off the registration form attached to this notice, indicate the names of all who will be attending, and mail a check made out to the German Wine Society in the proper amount along with the form to:  

Carl Willner

President and Secretary, GWS Capital Chapter

1014 Reserve Champion Drive

Rockville, MD 20850

You can also reach the Secretary by e-mail at carl.willner1@verizon.net .

    

Whether you are registering by mail or online, please be sure to provide the names of all persons for whom you are registering, and pay the appropriate price depending on whether each person is a member of the German Wine Society (either the Capital Chapter, or one of the other active chapters in the U.S. or an at-large member with annual dues paid), or a non-member.   You can join the GWS Capital Chapter either by using the website and registering to pay annual dues of $35 through PayPal, or by mail using a check, in the same manner as registering for the event.   If you have been a member of the GWS Capital Chapter in the past but are not sure of your current membership status, please email the chapter Secretary at the above e-mail to confirm your status.  

 

Here’s what we have planned for our Oktober Weinfest:

September 20, 6:00 pm (entry to Embassy compound passing through security beginning 6 pm):   Reception and wine dinner at the German Embassy House.  Enter at the main Embassy gate on 4645 Reservoir Road, NW, Washington, DC 20007, and proceed up the stairway alongside the main Embassy building depicted here to the Embassy House on the upper level.   For those who have difficulty ascending the stairs, escorts from the Embassy staff can bring guests through the Embassy building and up an elevator.

For security purposes, the Embassy requires a list of all attendees in advance; no walk-ins are allowed.  Please remember to bring a valid picture ID.    There is no parking available on Embassy grounds, but it should not be difficult at this time of day to find parking on the street nearby if you are driving.   Be alert, however, to DC parking restrictions.  The German Embassy is not near a Metro subway stop, but it is also possible to arrive by Metro bus (D6 to Foxhall Rd.) or by taxi/ride service.

Our Oktober Weinfest will feature twelve German wines, representing four wine regions (Mosel, Nahe, Franken, and Baden) and five grapes (Riesling, Silvaner, Grauburgunder, Pinot Noir and Pinot Nero).  The wines featured in the dinner cover the 2021, 2022, and the newest 2023 vintages – and most of the 2022 wines differ from the ones from that vintage in our New Vintage tasting earlier this year, completing the picture of this excellent vintage.  We will begin with a sekt reception on the patio (weather permitting) and followed by a seated buffet dinner inside the Embassy House, with a main and dessert course and five flights of wines. 

6:00pm Welcoming menu: hors d’ oeuvres + Sparkling wine served at Patio

Gravlax on Rye Bread 

Spinach Goat Cheese Quiche

Seared Tuna on Bagel Chips with Wasabi and Soy Glaze

Chicken Salad Wheel

These hors d’oeuvres will be accompanied by the following sparkling wine:

Nv Dr. Wagner Riesling Sekt Brut Mosel (Saar)

7:00pm Dinner Buffet: inside cantina

House Smoked Salmon with Tartar Sauce

Mustard Shrimp Salad

Assortment of Sausages and Condiments

Sauerkraut 

Mini Chicken Schnitzel with Lemon-Caper Butter Sauce

Roasted Vegetables

German Potato Salad

Caesar Salad with Tomato

Swedish Meatballs with Lingonberry Demi-glace

Pretzels with Cheese-Beer Dip

Assortment of Bread/Whipped Butter

These dishes will be served with four flights of wines as follows:

  Red Wines

  2022 Enderle & Moll Pinot Noir Baden 
  and
  2021 Hofgut Falkenstein Niedermenniger Herrenberg Rotwein (Pinot Noir/Pinot Nero blend)  Trocken #10 Mosel

  Trocken (Dry)  Non-Riesling White Wines 

  2021 Max Müller Silvaner Trocken Franken 
 and
  2022 Dönnhoff Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris) Trocken Nahe 

Grosses Gewächs (GG) Riesling White Wines

  2022 Dönnhoff Felsenberg Riesling GG Nahe 

  and
  2022 Peter Lauer Schonfels Riesling GG Fass 11 Mosel  

  Kabinett Riesling White Wines

  2021 Thanisch Erben Thanisch Dr. H Bernkasteler Doctor Riesling Kabinett Mosel 

  and
  2022 J.J. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett Mosel 

Dessert buffet:

Apple Tart with Calvados Cream

Elderflower Panna Cotta with Caramel Sauce

Rhubarb Sour Cream Tart

  These dishes will be served with a flight of three sweet Riesling wines:

  2022 A.J. Adam Dhron Hofberg Riesling Spätlese Mosel 

2023 Hofgut Falkenstein Krettnacher Euchariusberg Riesling Spätlese #24 Fuder Mammen  Mosel

 and 

  2022 Thomas Haag Schloss Lieser Niederberg Helden Riesling Auslese GK Mosel 

Coffee and Tea service at end, with bottled still and sparkling water provided at tables

We anticipate being joined by members of the German Embassy staff.  Please take the opportunity to mingle with them and share your interests in German wines and Germany!

The price for this event will be $148 for members, and $158 for non-members.  There will be a 60-person limit on attendance at this event, including Embassy guests, so reserve soon to avoid disappointment.

For this event, we are no longer requiring that guests provide proof of vaccination against covid-19, or wear masks when arriving.   We do encourage our members and guests, however, to be up to date in vaccinations, and request that if you contract covid-19 or another communicable illness, or test positive for covid-19, you refrain from attending the event and protect the health of others.  We can refund payments if you notify us that you are not able to attend the event for this reason prior to the start of the event.

All GWS members and guests are reminded that alcohol consumption can lead to intoxication.   Members and guests should use public transportation to events, rely on a designated driver, or taste the wines rather than finish them.

The event coordinator for the Oktober Weinfest is Carl Willner, Capital Chapter President and Secretary, and National Vice President and Secretary.  Please send any questions to Carl at carl.willner1@verizon.net .

We look forward to seeing you for our October Weinfest!   

Please check our Capital Chapter website and register soon.                                            

 

If registering by mail, please fill out and cut the reservation form below with your check – do not mail the entire notice.

 

 

 

REGISTRATION FORM FOR GERMAN WINE SOCIETY OKTOBER WEINFEST EVENT ON SEPTEMBER 20, 2024 AT THE GERMAN EMBASSY

$148.00 Members / $158.00 Non-Member Guests

Member(s) Names: _________________________________________________________________

Guest(s) Names: _____________________________________________________________________

Total Enclosed: ______________________________________________________________________

Daytime Phone Number: ____________________________________________________________

E-Mail: _______________________

Register for this Event