11% of pure goodness

If God has a nectar then it is surely called federweissen. Unfortunately, last night, I drank 2 cups of ‘fedi’ (as mickey and the wine folks call it) and I woke up this morning with a massive headache. It must be all the pure goodness and high nutritional content which mickey keeps mentioning.

Fedi is a ‘for a limited time only’ drink…and just like ‘roll up the rim’ time in Canada, everyone here is mad for federweissen for the one month it’s available. There are stands here on almost every block selling it, big signs outside of every hotel and restaurant advertising it, and there are lots of ‘fedi-ed’ folks zig-zagging along the sidewalks having consumed it. I’m just joking on that last point, but I would’ve been zig-zagging last night if great guy would’ve let me go out wandering in my condition!

Federweissen is the pure juice which comes from grapes being pressed. Nothing is added to them. Essentially, the grapes are picked (some vintners here in this area still do it by hand because the winehills are so steep), then pressed, resulting in a sweet, milky-white (like a white feather, hence the name ‘feder weissen’), insanely great-tasting liquid. The natural yeast and sugars in the grapes ferment (quicker if they are left at room temperature) and when consumed immediately, before being processed and lagered, then the alcohol content is about 11 %! I just looked that up on Wikipedia…having had no idea that it’s quite THAT potent. So that, combined with the fact that it tastes like juice and it’s so good you want to drink a lot of it, makes it dangerous stuff!

I had my 2 cups of fedi with a slice of scrumptious zwiebelkuchen; kind of like an onion quiche made with roasted onions, cream cheese and eggs. Apparently, you are supposed to consume them together, so I figured, ‘when in rome’! Yummy.