Up for a little fun? Give it your best shot!

[Duane Meissner]

Spricht Jemand Deutsch hier? Wisst du es von Schul oder von Wein studieren? Ich habe in Schul ein Jahr studiert. Ich wurde gern in Deutschland wohnen denn ich Deutsche Blut haben.

DM

[Georgie]

From the ever reliable Babel Fish comes:

"Does someone speak German here? Know do you it of train or from wine study? I have in train one year studied. I became gladly in Germany to live I German blood to have."

How's that Duane? Hee hee

[Duane Meissner]

The point was to see who could understand the questions and respond in German!!

Gotta love literal translations :-)

I wouldn't trust this "babel fish" though. That translation is way off in a few spots. A better one would be "Speak anyone German here? Know you it from school or from wine studying? I have in school one year studied. I would like in Germany to live because I German blood have."

We Germans such frustrating word order have.

DM

[This message has been edited by Duane Meissner (edited 12-05-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Duane Meissner (edited 12-05-2003).]

[quijote]

OK, I'll clumsily bite--Ich hab' ein bisschen Deutsch studiert (es gibt zuviel Jahren), aber heute Ich kann nur einige Worten und Saetze machen. Ich lese gut genug, aber das ist alles.

Definitely not a language I've kept up with, but it would be nice to go back to it some day.

[sedhead]

Hi I'm new here.
Ein guter tpopfen macht frei! Hope that is not in bad taste.

[Kcwhippet]

I don't have a clue. I was last in Germany somwhere back about 1975. The most amazing thing I saw was a billboard advertising the Big Mac with the phrase "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, onions on a sesame seed bun" in German. I remember there sure were a lot of words.

[sedhead]

Miss spelling alert. That should have been "tropfen"

[Scoop]

Obwohl es ist lange her, seitdem ich Germanistik studiert habe, verwende ich mein Deutsch immer noch, so wohl beruflich als auch zum persoenlichen Spass. Leider sind Sprachen nicht "rostfrei" -- sie muessen geuebt werden, um die gut zu behalten.

Zufaellig habe ich auch Wein "studiert" (beim Int'l Wine Center in NYC). Unser Lehrer war sehr ueber deutschen Wein begeistert, aber konnte kaum Deutsch sprechen, viel weniger gut aussprechen! Im Laufe des Unterrichts habe ich ab und zu mal Antworte ueber deutsche Weinregeln gegeben, und dadurch habe Sachen wie z.B. "Trockenbeerenauslese" tadelos ausgesprochen. Er bermerkte das sofort. Danach -- fast jedes Mal -- wurde er mich fragen, wie das und das Wort ausgesprochen wird. So, ich wurde eine Art Deutsch Lehrer im Weinkurs. Am Ende des Kurs gab es eine tolle Ueberraschung: ein 1996 Riesling Kabinett aus der Pfalz als Geschenk von unserem deutsch-herausforderten Lehrer!von

Frohe Festtage,

Scoop

[quijote]

Wow, now _that's_ German!

I think I got the gist of what you wrote... (sort of?):

You took a course on (German) wines but the instructor could not speak, much less pronounce, German. The instructor picked up on your German-language abilities, and you pretty much became the class guide to vocab and pronunciation. At the end of the course, as a nice surprise, your Deutsch-challenged teacher gave you a prime bottle of Reserve Rhine Riesling....

More or less?

Another good reason to learn a foreign language--the surprise gifts of wine! (Though that hasn't happened to me yet for Spanish, but maybe I need to provide bigger hints to my students....)

[quijote]

Hmmm, when I read Scoop's passage in German, I ran across that word--"Kabinett"--and thought it might mean "Reserve" (store it in a "Kabinett" or sumthin), but after looking in a couple of wine books, it seems to mean something I don't quite understand.

Does it refer to the first grapes picked of the season? The books seem to say it refers to wine made from not-fully-ripe grapes of high quality, and this leads to a dryish wine. Is that what "Kabinett" means?

Perhaps not many people are reading this thread, so I'll post this question under "Novices" if I'm just a tree falling in an unpeopled forest.



[This message has been edited by quijote (edited 12-12-2003).]

[Innkeeper]

The terms Kabinett, Spatlese, and Auslese all refer to amount of sugar in the grapes when they are picked. It usually gives you an idea of how much residual sweetness is in the resultant wine, though it does not have to be that way. An Auslese level grape could still be vinted dry, but it is rarely if ever done.

[quijote]

Thanks, IK.

[Scoop]

Dead-on, Quijote! Perfectly translated.

I've found nothing but an upside knowing/having learned another language.

To build on IK's explanation, "kabinett" is generally the lightest, most delicate of the "Praedikats" ("distinctions" or "special attributes") -- and, correspondingly, the lowest in grape sugar content among them. Alcohol levels therefore tend to be comparatively very low, sometimes as low as 7% (or so). These can be made in many styles, from dry to sweet, but for my taste, I prefer them in "trocken" (dry) or "halbtrocken" (off dry) versions. I'm also referring mainly to Riesling here, which is king of the German QmP (and kabinett) wines. Those from the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer tend to be the most delicate and floral (think elder flower), with some nice mineral (like slate) underneath. Those from the Rheingau and the Pfalz get a bit riper, and are more robust, full of stone fruit flavors, yet equally expressive of the local soils (a great Riesling characteristic).

Worthy of note: To earn the "distinction", be it kabinett, spaetlese, auslese, etc., there can be no added sugar to "enrich" the grape must in order to up the alcohol content, a common practice in such northerly climates. In other words, the grapes have to earn the distinctions all by themselves! This is process is allowed for the base category of "quality wine produced in a specific region" ("Qualitaetswein bestimmter Anbauregion" or QbA), however, which means that many QbAs can end up with higher sugar levels in the must, and therefore more alcohol than its more "distinctive" kabinett cousin.

That's probably "TMI", but the question was asked!

Finally, only Germany and Austria have these quality distictions based on sugar content in the (expanding) European Union, but their overall classification systems do conform to the broad categories spelled out in EU legislation: (from top to bottom) Quality Wine Produced in a Specific Region (e.g. AOC, DOC, QbA-QmP), Table Wine with Geographic Indication (e.g. Vin de Pays,IGT, Landwein), Table Wine (e.g. Vin de Table, Vino de la Tavola, Tafelwein).

O.K., that's enough.

Cheers,

Scoop

[wondersofwine]

Ich sprache ein bisschen Deutsch aber Ich vergesse viele worten. Ich kann Speise und Wein sprachen. (Just now I wanted to say I can order or buy food and wine and could not remember the words for order or buy)! I had a tour guide look over and correct my first postcard written in German. I had said the cousin or nephew is nice when I meant to say the weather is nice. Ah, well. If you have tried to learn German, you will love Mark Twain's essay on learning German.

[quijote]

Thanks (or Danke), Scoop, that puts "Kabinett" into a fuller perspective. When I was just a high school kid studying Deutsch, the textbook mentioned beer, but never wine. Now I'm making up for the wine part, though my German remains cellared.

Q

[Scoop]

to buy: kaufen; to order: bestellen

to hit the sauce: saufen.

Cheers,

Scoop

[wondersofwine]

Thanks, Scoop. How could I have forgotten "kaufen?"