weingut franz jaeckel

If you are touring in the Hunsruck (that area of Germany between the Rhine and the Mosel) and are near Bingen, look for signs to Gutenberg and Wallhausen. Wallhausen is a small town almost exclusively given over to the production of wine.When you arrive look for Traubenstrasse (although the house of Franz Jaeckel is well signposted). From the outside it looks like any other detached house, but behind the gate is a complete new world of wine making, tasting and selling. Herr Jaeckel and his family are particularly good at what they do, they not only claim to make excellent wine, but are prepared to back it up by letting you taste before you buy.Their English is not great, but between their broken English and my broken German we got along fine. The first time I visited, some years ago, despite the language barrier I received a most informative talk on sekt. Apparently there are two main types, tank sekt and bottle sekt. For tank sekt the wine is run into a large tank, gassed up and bottled. Bottle sekt (flaschengarung) is made by the traditional method Champeniose. Herr Jaeckel then added "I would not pretend that tank sekt is as good as bottle sekt, but it is a reasonable and serviceable alternative". There are many other gradations, but I cannot do better than recommend that you visit yourself, you will not regret it (though your wallet may).