Bier at the Schloßbergschänke may be the first photos to be displayed at the start of the day of madness that is the Wolf Winefest, however this was not the true start of the day. Having risen at 05.00, Lord Clive, Hector and Maggie had flown courtesy of Mr O’Leary from Stansted to Hahn arriving at 09.30 Nils Bucke was there to drive us the short drive from the Hunsrück down to the Mosel and Traben-Trarbach.
Breakfast with Frank at the Altstadt Café was a long and relaxing event. We did him proud. Knowing what was coming we ate our fill. Rosi was not in attendance: ‘She is on the other side.’ We do not know if Frank simply meant Traben. His current assistant fractured her wrist the previous day; Frank was once again a one man operation. He said he would close the bar at midnight.
After breakfast we went around the corner passed a group of people already drinking wine. You do this on the streets of Glasgow you get looked upon as trash. On the Mosel this is the norm, and with posh ladies in attendance, nobody gives a second glance.
We popped in to see Richard Allmacher at Zur Goldenen Traube. He addressed me in Deutsche as ever. We said we might be back for dinner. It is a year since I last set foot on these premises, umglaublich!
The noon rendezvous with Dr Stan and Jonathan was at the place formerly known as Rolf’s. The Schloßbergschänke is a non-smoking restaurant and bar, Reissdorf Kölsch is available (VF); two good reasons to make a visit.
We were given the seats at the bar and soon our group of five was assembled. This was a modest start to the day, we knew what was coming.
By 13.00 we were on the banks of the Mosel awaiting the Tractor. In the end it appeared seconds after Hector bought five tickets for Das Boot. €4 each instead of €2, big time spenders.
The Tractor overtook us, we arrived at Wolf well before 14.00, let the party commence…
Das Boot took us to the pier whereas we normally start at the tractor stop. Unfazed, Hector led the way to the official starting point along the river and up the side street thus not peeking at the main drag before it was time.
The first Wine stall was liberated of a bottle of red wine and five glasses. This means 0.175ml per person per stop. Red wine is quite a rarity, it was Hector’s round. Hector always buys the first round at Wolf.
Almost immediately one of the bands was upon us, complete with the local equivalent of a pantomime horse. When we moved on to stops two and three we realised we had only moved about 25 metres from our starting point. The afternoon was getting truly underway.
There is a wonderful pit stop selling Hirsch (Venison) Goulash and/or Garlic Prawns. This is a tasty interlude, we realised later that this was our only other food of the day, apart from Maggie and the significant breakfast at the Altstadt Café et al.
We sat at the ‘Babies’ tent and Clive presented the most disgusting bottle of wine of the afternoon. It was sweet. The bottle said Trocken, alas we were misled.
The layout of the Wolf Strassenfest in L-shaped. As one approaches the turn it is time for Sekt. Only at Wolf does one have Babies before Sekt. It is written.
We like fizzy wine. Well what does one expect from a crown of Bier enthusiasts? This means a round each. It also means that the party is peaking by the time we leave this zone. We are truly in the zone.
Dr Stan is no more
We do not know the person in our midst of late. It cannot just be relaxation as a result of retirement, it must be more sinister. The aliens who kidnapped Dr Stan have replaced him with Stan Factorial, our new name for this mystery person: ?Stan!
The rest of the evening is usually determined by the temperature. Last year we ended up indoors such the temperature plummet. Today was fine and so we made our way down past the whirling steaks to another tent.
We can tell when it is time to leave. A large taxi was negotiated (rather than hijacked as in a couple of years back), Altstadt Café asked the driver? Where else? How did he know?
Instead we went back to Rolf’s (Schlossbergschänke) purely because this is smoke free. After more Reissdorf Kölsch it was decreed that we had better go and see Frank before his intended midnight close.
Herr Bucke, Nils, was sitting in the main room with a laptop, cue a visit to this very website. His sister was sitting with her husband, Fred the hero, in the smoky bar. I didn’t see much of the rest of the company after this. ?Stan! and Jonathan procured a taxi for the lengthy trip to Bad Wilstein. Clive and Maggie went to bed. Hector sat with the locals, by this time the Deutsch was flowing.
Midnight close? Aye right.
Only two indoor places visited today on this trip:
Altstadt Cafe – Mittelstrasse 12, 56861 Traben-Trarbach
Schloßbergschänke – Moselstraße 4, 56841, Traben-Trarbach
The Fleece is essentially a Brewery Tap for Timothy Taylor’ (Keighley) down the road. All of their Ales are on sale here. The Landlord was the the Ale of choice being both stronger and lighter than the rest of the range. Taylor’s have yet to see the merits in brewing a strong light, hoppy Bier. This day may come.
