Rescheduled GWS New Vintage Plus Tasting with Phil Bernstein – Sept. 17th, 2021

Every year we host a tasting to try German wines from the new vintage, with a focus on Riesling. Our host is Phil Bernstein, General Manager of MacArthur Beverages, one of the leading retailers of German Riesling in the country. Every year, Phil brings fabulous wines for us to try.  In March 2020, we had planned to conduct our annual New Vintage tasting, but were regrettably forced to postpone due to pandemic conditions.  We are now pleased to announce that we have been able to reschedule this event, renamed the “New Vintage Plus” tasting (for the additional year that has passed), at a new location in the Washington, D.C. suburb of  Rockville, MD, on Friday, September 17, 2021. The location we had previously used at Harbour Square in Southwest Washington, D.C. is no longer available, but this new location is readily accessible, near the major highways of I-270 and MD 355 for driving and also Red Line Metro, and with ample parking.

Some of our members and guests chose to keep their reservation and payment on file with us when we postponed this event last year, awaiting rescheduling, but we have some additional spaces as well for new guests, or ones who opted for refunds last year but would like to sign up again now.  If you would still like to attend this event and chose to keep your reservation and payment on file with us last year, there is nothing further you need to do, as we have your reservation, but please confirm by email to the Secretary at the address below to let us know you are still coming.  If you do not already have a reservation on file but would like to come, you will need to register now (we do not allow walk-ins at the event without prior registration).  If you kept your reservation on file but are not able to attend on the new date, or are not vaccinated for covid-19 and so cannot meet our vaccination requirement for attendance, please let us know before the registration deadline and we will provide a refund of the original price paid.

As originally planned in 2020, we will sample ten German wines, accompanied by a tasty buffet of cheeses, breads, grapes, veggies and cold cuts.  Some of these wines are still available from MacArthur Beverages, if you would like to get them for yourself after tasting them, but others are not, and so this will be the only opportunity to try these great wines selected for us by Phil.  And, fortunately for all of us, the U.S. government is no longer imposing special tariffs on German wines!  Plus, you will be enjoying these ten wines at pre-inflation prices from 2019 and early 2020, the same event price we were offering in March of last year.

The 2018 vintage that we will be tasting is described by Terry Theise as offering consistently fresh and wonderful wines that are “perhaps 80% delicious and 20% fascinating.”  All wines below are from the 2018 vintage unless otherwise noted.  Never fear, German wine lovers – we are still planning to do another tasting or tastings later on with the wines of the 2019 and 2020 vintages, which will be the newest vintages now available.

The deadline for registration is Monday, September 13, 2021.  We have a maximum capacity of 50 attendees at this location, but will only have 22 additional spaces for this event, based on those who have already registered from last year, and have kept their reservations.   Sign up soon to be sure you don’t miss this always-popular event!

DATE AND TIME:  Friday, September 17, 2021.  Doors open at 6:30 pm; tasting begins at 7:00 pm.

VENUE: King Farm Community Center, 300 Saddle Ridge Circle, Rockville, MD 20850, in the King Farm development.  This is a large, free-standing building in the middle of a circle, with high ceilings, a fireplace, kitchen with refrigerator for wine chilling, and French doors and a balcony overlooking a pool area (the balcony will not, however, be open during the event).  Normally it can accommodate up to 100 people, but capacity has been reduced to 50 for greater safety in current health conditions.  Please park in the lot behind the swimming pool adjacent to the community center, and then come around to the front of the circle (not through the pool area) to enter the building.  You can reach King Farm easily when driving either off Exit 8 from I-270 (turn into King Farm using the Redland Boulevard turnoff on the right from the exit), or from MD 355 exiting onto Redland Boulevard into King Farm.  Normally the Shady Grove Metro station on the Red Line is the most convenient to King Farm, right across 355, but we have learned that the two closest Metro stations, Shady Grove and Rockville, will be closed for repairs during this time.  So, if arriving by Metro on the Red Line, please get off at the Twinbrook station and take a cab to King Farm from there (there may also be Metro shuttle buses connecting from Twinbrook to Shady Grove, and if you go to Shady Grove this way there are normally shuttles running from Shady Grove into King Farm until 7:30 pm – the Red shuttle goes to the Community Center). 

WINES: (same as planned for last year)

First Flight:  Welcoming Sekts

nv Von Winning Riesling Sekt Extra Brut 

2016 Von Schubert Maximin Grunhauser Riesling Sekt Brut

Second Flight:  Glorious GGs

Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Riesling GG Mosel

Dönnhoff Dellchen Riesling GG Nahe 

Third Flight:  A Flight of Fabulous Falkensteins

Hofgut Falkenstein Krettnacher Euchariusberg Riesling Kabinett Alte Reben Mosel

Hofgut Falkenstein Niedermenniger Herrenberg Riesling Spätlese Feinherb Mosel

Fourth Flight:  Dönnhoff’s Splendid Spätlese

Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Spätlese Nahe 

Dönnhoff Oberhauser Brucke Riesling Spätlese Nahe

Fifth Flight:  An Auslese Grand Finale from Selbach Oster

Selbach Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg “Schmitt” Riesling Auslese Mosel 

Selbach Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr “Rotlay” Riesling Auslese Mosel

The Willi Schaefer and the two Selbach Osters are still listed as being available on the MacArthur Beverages website.

COST: $56 for members, $66 for non-members.   If you are not sure whether your membership is current, please contact the Chapter President and Secretary, Carl Willner at carl.willner1@verizon.net .

If you have any questions about this event, they can be sent to Carl Willner as well, or you can contact Dave Wendler, the original organizer, at: davewendler@yahoo.com. 

There are two ways to register and pay to attend this event, if you do not already have a paid registration on file.  First, you can complete the attached registration form, detach it from the event notice, and mail it to the Chapter President and Secretary, at:  Carl Willner, 1014 Reserve Champion Drive, Rockville, MD 20850.  Include a check for the appropriate amount made payable to ‘German Wine Society.’  Second, in the alternative, you can register for this event online and pay by PayPal.  To register and pay online, you will need to set up an account on the website and have signed up for PayPal as well before registering for this event.  We cannot accept payments by other forms of credit.  Please be sure, in signing up, to submit payment based on your current member or non-member status.  If your dues year has expired and you want to register as a member, please include a $35 dues payment (for an individual or couple) as well.

All members and guests are reminded that alcohol consumption can lead to intoxication.  Therefore Society members and their guests are expected to drink in moderation at Society events.  It is advisable to provide designated drivers where available, use Metro or other forms of public transportation, or mostly to taste rather than consume alcohol when not using designated drivers or public transportation.

Finally, because we want all of our members and guests to enjoy this event in the greatest degree of safety possible under current health conditions, we are requiring that everyone attending this event be fully vaccinated for covid-19.  Please be prepared to show proof of vaccination when entering the event if requested.  If you are requested to show such proof and cannot do so, you may not be admitted.  We also had this requirement for our River Cruise event in July of this year, and given continuing heath concerns, we consider it prudent to continue this precaution for this event as well.  Please also note that Montgomery County does require masks again for indoor events when not eating and drinking, so we request that you wear a mask when arriving and signing in.

If you no longer wish to receive our announcements, please contact the Secretary at the e-mail address indicated above.

Please clip and return this registration form if registering by mail, to the Secretary at the address listed above.  Do not return the entire event notice.

GERMAN WINE SOCIETY NEW VINTAGE PLUS TASTING – September 17, 2021

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