21c and Gray & Dudley Want to Take You on a Trip to Germany

We’re all itching to travel, and Gray & Dudley at the 21c Museum Hotel downtown wants to help you dip your toe in the wayfaring waters with their monthly Destination Known series of wine dinners with an exploration of two of Germany’s most famous wine regions, Baden and Mosel. The event will run from 6 until 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 20, and will feature a four-course dinner created by chef Matthew Bell along with wine pairings selected by Gray & Dudley wine director Matias Yerrick.

Of course, Mosel is best known as the heartland of rieslings, while the region of Baden between the Black Forest and the Rhine River produces a wider variety of wines including müller-thurgau, gewürztraminer and some excellent pinot noirs, so hopefully they’ll be serving nice examples of those wines. As part of introducing each course and the pairings, G&D will offer comparisons between old and new styles and showcase what comes from German vines that have been around for centuries.

The cost of the dinner is a steal at $65 including food, drink and tax. Gray & Dudley does request that if you plan to dine as a group, please make your reservations under one transaction at the event website so that they can be sure to seat you together as they plan for appropriate distancing between tables.

I was going to end this post with the traditional German wine toast of Zum wohl! which means “to your health,” but I recently discovered a new favorite which I can cut-and-paste, but certainly not pronounce. So instead, I'll leave you with Wo früher meine Leber war, ist heute eine Minibar!, which literally means, “There is now a minibar where my liver once was!” Those wacky Germans.