We had a quiet week at home! Unfortunately some maintenance issues at work had us working from home this week until they could be resolved. I definitely enjoyed not having to wake up, get ready, and drive in every day! It’s also a school holiday this week in most of Europe (although not for the Americans), so there were no German classes this week! I definitely enjoyed using all of that time getting caught up on things around the house!
On Friday, the kids left directly after school for a trip with their ski club. It was the final one of the season and they went to Ski Amade in Austria. As soon as they were packed up and on the bus, Matt and I got on the road for a trip of our own. We were going back to Schloss Lieser in the Moselle River Valley with some friends whose kids were also going on the ski trip.
Schloss Lieser is a 19th-century castle transformed into a five-star hotel overlooking the Moselle River, celebrated for its grand architecture and romantic vineyard views. Inside, historic elegance blends seamlessly with modern luxury. We visited Schloss Lieser on this same weekend last year and enjoyed a wonderfully relaxing escape, doing little more than soaking in the opulent atmosphere. This time, we invited friends to join us.
We all arrived shortly after 8 p.m. and enjoyed some snacks and drinks in the hotel lounge before heading into the library with a bottle of wine and a few card games. It turned into a late night before we finally made it to bed! And also, I’ve never felt so “almost forty” in my life before writing out that paragraph. 🤣
We all slept in the next morning and then enjoyed one of the hotel’s delicious breakfasts. They offer an extensive buffet with eggs made to order, and between the four of us, we indulged in multiple rounds of Eggs Benedict, Eggs Royal, and Eggs Florentine!
Then it was time to begin our day. Our first stop was just a short walk away at Weingut Schloss Lieser, located right next door to the hotel. Originally, the vineyards were part of the castle estate but were sold off in the 1940s and are now separately owned. This historic Moselle winery, is renowned for its steep-slope Rieslings. In the late 1990s, the Thomas Haag family purchased the run-down property and painstakingly brought it back to life, combining traditional winemaking techniques with meticulous vineyard management. Today, they are members of the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP), an association of Germany’s top 200 wine producers; an impressive achievement in just 30 years.
Thomas and his wife, Ute, personally led our tour and tasting, truly bringing their story to life. Hearing how they have poured their heart and soul into the family business made us appreciate the wines even more, and we left with several cases in tow.
Among the many fascinating insights they shared was that wine consumption is down; not just for them, but for winemakers around the world. They mentioned vineyards in Bordeaux leaving grapes on the vine at the end of the season due to oversupply. This trend is largely driven by the the growing culture of sober living, which is more widespread than most people realize. Thomas and Ute hope that the tradition of sharing wine with friends, along with its rich cultural and historical significance, can help sustain the industry. Winemaking is incredibly hard work, and without enough consumers, many growers may be forced to leave the trade.
After our tasting at Weingut Schloss Lieser, it was time for lunch. We crossed the river to eat at the highly recommended restaurant at Hotel Weisser Bär. We had an amazing meal and were served by the cutest older gentleman. Of course, we forgot to take any pictures at all.
After lunch, we were up for one more wine tasting, so we crossed back over the river and headed to another weingut, Weingut Rosenhof. This was a completely different experience from our earlier tasting, but still a great one. Christina, the owner, gave us a loooong tasting; I think we sampled every wine the winery makes! One thing that made it particularly interesting was that Christina spoke no English, so Matt and I stumbled through while translating for our friends. I’m not sure how, but after a few hours, we were all laughing and joking together despite the language barrier. We bought a couple more cases of wine, Christina gifted us a few open bottles, and we headed back to the hotel.
The ladies decided to take naps while the guys hit the sauna. Then we had dinner at the hotel restaurant, Puricelli, which is working toward earning a Michelin star. The food was phenomenal, but the service was a little slow; they were definitely overbooked for the evening. We finished the night with more card games in the library, enjoying our gifted bottles of wine.
On our final morning, we got up for another delicious breakfast and then went back to bed. There’s nothing like a five-star bed, and we were definitely going to take full advantage of our late checkout at 1 p.m. (and no, this had nothing to do with our heads hurting from the day before!).
We hit the road mid-afternoon and were home by dinnertime. We relaxed until around nine, when it was time to pick up Brooklyn and Ryan from the ski club bus.
While we were enjoying our weekend, the kids were having a blast with their ski club on a trip to Ski Amadé in Austria. They left straight from school, made one stop for dinner, and arrived at their youth hostel around 1 a.m. on Saturday. They spent the entire day on the slopes Saturday and enjoyed a long morning of skiing on Sunday before heading back to Stuttgart just after lunch.
The kids absolutely love this trip; especially Ryan. Ski Amadé is home to some of the largest terrain parks in Europe, and he loves practicing jumps, spins, and all the tricks that make me far too nervous to watch. He told us he landed a backflip this weekend, and although there’s no photo evidence, I don’t doubt him for a second. I’m just glad I didn’t have to witness it; and that he made it home in one piece.
He was definitely a very sad boy when he got home, saying in the most dejected voice, “I’m not ready for ski season to be over yet.” We’ll see if he manages to get back out on the slopes again this year; it’s already starting to warm up, and we’re shifting our focus to baseball and softball season.
Gilcrests Abroad 