I have been rolling in and out of Ingelheim twice a year for the past 5 years, mainly to visit the Weingut (winery) Dautermann which is one of the finest wineries in the Rhinehessen region. As it is the halfway point between Switzerland and the Ruhrgebiet region, I also use it to meet friend Simon as well as other friends. We typically do a wine tasting then fill Simon's car with cartons full of bottles to take back to other friends in Oberhausen. Then we head into the city of Mainz where we get legless and end up dancing on the tables...or under the tables, as may be.
Main building of the Dautermann winery
Weingut Dautermann, as it is known in German
To get to Mainz I left Territet on a pre-booked Supersaver train ticket to Basel at 06h53 for CHF
26.60 in 2nd class. From there, I planned to use the German 9 Euro Ticket and take a series of regional trains leaving Basel Bad Bahnhof at 10h28 and getting to Ingelheim at 16h09. It was Saturday and I was expecting a nightmare trip, but on the contrary it was very pleasant. Certainly, the trains were very busy but I always managed to find a seat, although people were standing during the last stretch into Mainz. There were changes of train in Offenburg, Karlsruhe and Mainz itself, and during my 50 minutes layover in Offenburg I ate my home made picnic and had a coffee in front of the station. All trains were perfectly on time and I made the connections with time to spare.
Weingut Dautermann usually closes at 15h00 on a Saturday, but calling the owner I managed to persuade them to stay open a bit longer. We are good customers and always buy several hundred Euros worth of bottles of wine and they know us by now. My two pals were already there to taste some wines and decide what they wanted to purchase. They swung down to the station to pick me up so I could taste some wines too and purchase some cartons of wine, before heading to Mainz just after 17h00. The Dautermann winery has been around for over 100 years, apparently. In their own words: "Through selective hand harvesting, we obtain red wines full of character and fine fruity white wines". They further say that "...80% of the quality is given to us by nature. For the remaining 20% we work in the vineyards intensely". I love Dautermann's fruity white wines, especially the Blanc de Blanc, Weisser Burgunder and Gewürztraminer varieties. But tasting is necessary because they subtly change each year. For example, Gewürztraminer from
2021 is completely sold out.
Entry to the tasting room at Dautermann
Selection of Dautermann wines with their unique label design
