The tradition of the Stammtisch

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Ok, so today's post isn't actually being written FROM Lorsch, Germany. However, this small town along the Rhine river plays an important part in today's activities and my "cultural excursion" for the day.

The day started with an opportunity to attend Justin's tee-ball game, followed by a nice walk down to the Wiesbaden Kurpark (the generic name given to German parks where the mineral baths are traditionally located). In the afternoon, Thom, Kris, and I drove about 30 minutes from their home in Wiesbaden to the town of Lorsch. Lorsch is one of a series of smaller towns located along the Rhine River in the "Rhiengau" region of Germany. This area is known for their vineyards and, traditionally, the Riesling wines produced along the slopes of the river. I have visited this region during each of my last trips to Europe and it is always a pleasure. In fact, as a point of reference for some of the readers of this blog, Lorsch is the next town "down" after you travel through Rudesheim and Assmanhausen.

Our destination on this day was the small "restaurant/pub" associated with one of the small family wineries located in Lorsch (The Weingut Michael Rossler to be exact (the english translation of that family name since I can't do umlauts or the funny little "Bs that sounds like Ses" on my keyboard)) .

Both terms "restaurant" and "pub" are not really appropriate terms for where we were as both imply something more permanent and ongoing then what we were visiting. Under German rules, these types of wineries are allowed to be open to the public only a limited number of times and for fairly brief periods of times. This just so happened to be one of those times when this winery was allowed to open its Strassenwirtschaft. As such, we were meeting members of Kris and Thom's Stammtisch to enjoy one of these limited times.

For those of you unfamiliar with a Stammtisch (and I was prior to this experience) a stammtisch is an old tradition going back for centuries. Roughly translated, stammtisch refers to the regular's table. It is a table in a corner pub which is set aside for the friends and family of the pub's owner - for the regular visitors. As it was explained to me, often the men would stop on their way home from work to have a drink (or two). They could check their problems and worries at the door, relax for a little bit with friends, and then go on home in a more carefree state.

Over time, this tradition has evolved to include women, and not necessarily meet on a daily basis or at a consistent location. For example, Kris and Thom are part of a mixed group of Germans and Americans who meet every other Tuesday to have dinner, drinks, and conversation. While this wasn't a Tuesday, several of their members had decided to meet to go drink wine from this small winery.

The table was "headed" by a local man who everyone referred to as "Erich the Red." The name goes back to the 1960s when he was given the name by John F. Kennedy during a visit here. We sat outside in a beautiful little garden until it started to sprinkle, and then we retired to the winery's "winekeller." During the time we sampled several of the owner's wines, ate some delicious food, and chatted. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience

I think that I earned Erich's respect by being willing to do or try just about anything he threw at me. First, I did snuff. Not the "pinch between the cheek and gums" kind, but the "inhale it off the back of your hand" kind. I figured that given how bad my allergies were bothering me, it couldn't make things much worse (although in hind sight it might have). Second, I was willing to order a plate of "Handkasse mit musik" Now the way this was described to me, I expected it to be something like a limburger cheese sandwhich, and it is something that many of the Americans at the table indicated they would not try. It will not surprise my wife that I was willing to give it a try.

If I recall the story correctly, Handkasse is a cheese made by taking something akin to cottage cheese, mixing it with salt and pepper, forming it into balls, pressing out all the liquid, and then letting the balls rest on a board covered with a wet towel. The cheese then cures/sours and evidentely turns fairly pungent. I didn't actually discuss the strong smell because the way it was served to me, several balls of this cheese were mixed with vinegar, oil, walnuts and a LOAD of chopped onions. This was scooped on top of buttered brown bread and eaten by the brave. I actually found it VERY tasty (although I find it to be more beer food then wine food). The "mit musik" (with music) was explained to me as the after effect that this food can cause (who says that German's don't have a sense of humor??).

In amongst all of this stuff, Erich told stories and jokes about German culture, and we interacted with the owner/wife of the winery, her aunt(?), and several of the locals (including a Stammtisch of ~20 that was waiting for the Burgermeister to show up so they could "hold court"). While there was a reasonable amount of drinking going on, it had such a different flavor than the drinking I described in Russia. My only description of the difference is poorly summed up with the following..

In Germany, they drink to enjoy life.
In Russia, they live to enjoy drinking.

We had drink because it enhanced the pleasure of the camaraderie and the spirit of the table. It was a way to ENJOY life as opposed to drinking to get drunk and FORGET life. A subtle, but big difference.

We spent close to four hours in Losch at this winery (mom, it has a nice bed/breakfast and a couple of vacation apartments for very nice prices) and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was the kind of experience that you can't get on a package tour and the kind of thing that you remember for years to come.

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Comments

[anonymous]

nice!
http://www.weingut-roessler.de/fernsehen.html