Of course there are the standbys: Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Chardonnay. But here are some wines you might not have considered:

Your Red Wine:

Beaujolais Nouveau: This wine is bottled on Nov 3 and shipped worldwide from France. It’s a young wine and exceptionally drinkable. It’s light, fruity, and best served chilled. The grapes are grown in the Beaujolais area (part of Burgundy) and because of its annual release, it’s always closely associated with the holidays.

Your White Wine:

Riesling: This wine originated in Germany but you can find varieties from Alsace, Austria and so on. It can range from very sweet (almost a dessert wine) to very dry, depending on the variety. Riesling works well for Thanksgiving, the sweetness makes everything taste more moist– even the driest of turkeys. If hearing the word “sweet” and “wine” makes you cringe, you can get a Riesling on any end of the scale (look on the label for dry or “trocken” for dry or “Auslese” for sweet).

These are two I recommend, but I’d love to hear from you.  What wines are you drinking this holiday season?

Post from: Europe String

October 3 is the Day of German Unity (on this date in 1990 East and West Germany were reunited.) If you happen to be in Berlin, you have the opportunity to partake in the festivities. This is a free event at the Brandenburg Gate with music, food, live entertainment and supposedly lots of dancing.

If you want to celebrate Halloween early and/or enjoy sorcery and vegetables head to Marchiennes, France October 4-5. This is more of a children’s festival; events on the 4^th are directed at them. Set in the ruins of a Benedictine abbey, the Cucurbitades celebrates? recollects? France’s last sorcery trial. Witches show up to denounce the tragedy, and on Saturday throw chocolate coins to the kiddies. It gets its name from the generic French term for pumpkin-like vegetables such as cucumbers, eggplants, etc. Entry is 5 EUR for adults, 2 EUR for children. On Saturday (Children’s day) children must be accompanied by an adult, who gets in free!

October 11-12 sees the annual Duck Festival in San Miniato, Italy. This unique tradition cleverly combines a historic parade with a duck race. Contestants from the area’s four localities of Il Borgo, Fondo di Scesa, Buecchio and Fornacino good-naturally waddle as fast as they can, hoping to bring pride to their borough. Lots of regional specialities are served up as well; beware of any booths offering duck…

Amsterdam will be having a ball when it presents the hottest in dance and electronic music. It’s actually a conference, but each night venues across the city will be thumping with a variety of DJ’s showcasing new styles and music. Check out the Amsterdam Dance Event October 23-25.

Photo Credit: Dan@Flickr

Post from: Europe String

You can still attend a beer fest in Germany this year – just head to Stuttgart September 27-October 12 for the Cannstatt Beer Festival. This is actually billed as the world’s largest folk festival and besides beer, they’ll also have amusement rides, a craft fair and fireworks.

Over in Belgium you can visit Festival Bruxellensis September 13-14. Their motto: We only feature characterful beers. In the past, they’ve only offered Belgium brews, but this year have thrown open the barrel to brewers from France, Finland, Spain, England and Germany. A tasting glass is 3 EUR and beer tokens are 1.20 EUR each. Pop over the Channel to England and you can visit the Northwich Beer Festival in Northwich, England. Held September 19-20, organizers promise more than 70 beers and ciders from around the UK. Tickets start as low as 3 GBP and includes entrance, program and commemorative glass. The next weekend, September 26-27, head over to Ascot for the Ascot Beer Festival. More than 125 beers, lagers and ciders will be available as well as horse racing as this event is held at the Ascot race course. Tickets start at 10 GBP. There seems to be a beer festival nearly every weekend during September and October in England; the Campaign for Real Ale association has a list.

The European Beer Festival is September 12-14 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Tickets start at 100 DKK for one day and events include the Copenhagen Open, a Europe-wide brewing club contest. And beer: more than 2,000 beers from more than 450 breweries. Nearby in Amsterdam, they’ll be holding the PINT Bokbierfestival October 24-26. More than 50 Belgium and Dutch brewers are expected to be there.

Photo Credit: a4gpa@Flickr

Post from: Europe String

Flaming shrimp at the Brazilian music festival Caliente, which takes place every summer in Zurich, Switzerland. Coming up July 4-8, 2008.

More Photo Friday: Fire

Photo source: personal collection

Post from: Europe String

I had a fabulous time at Queen’s Day in Amsterdam last week, on April 30th. Queen’s Day is a huge celebration of the (former) queen’s birthday, and there is fun to be had all over the country.

In Amsterdam, DJs and bands were set up on stages all over the city on the evening before Queen’s Day, and the city felt like one big outdoor party. The celebrations continued early the next morning, with people getting up extra-early to take part in the free market – anyone is allowed to set up shop and sell items on this day. It’s kind of like a city-wide garage sale. The city and its canals were packed for most of the day, with orange-wearing revelers all over the place.

Queen’s Day offers a whole lot of free fun – the hard part is finding a hotel room. Book well in advance for next year!

Post from: Europe String

For more on Sechseläuten, see these posts on my personal blog from when I attended two years ago:

• The Sechseläuten parade
• The burning of the Böögg

Post from: Europe String

Onion alarm clocks at the Onion Festival in Bern, Switzerland.

See more ‘fragile’ Photo Friday entries here.

Photo credit: personal collection.

Post from: Europe String

If you can’t make it to Ireland’s festivities, I hope you at least get to enjoy a little green beer and Irish folk music today. I celebrated with a little Irish cheddar and stout fondue myself.

Photo source: personal collection

Post from: Europe String

In honor of Tavern Day, here’s a little post about drinking in Munich. (I know what you’re thinking… “There’s drinking in Munich ?” I was shocked, too.)

This weekend we partook of the annual Munich Strong Beer Festival (or Starkbierfest), a fabulous Bavarian tradition. Each year for a few weeks during Lent, the local breweries open their banquet halls and cellars for this festival celebrating Starkbier – a heavy, sweet, dark brew thought up by fasting monks who wanted some nourishment (but weren’t so interested in sobriety). These days each brewery produces its own brand of Starkbier, with names that usually end in -ator (eg. Salvator, Triumphator, Unimator…).

I’m a big advocate of off-season travel, and here’s yet another example of why. Although a much smaller scale than Oktoberfest, the Starkbierfest is a great way to experience drunken Bavarian revelry. There’s live music, large beers (only served in 1-liter krugs), traditional food, and a big crowd of revelers dancing on long wooden benches. Not to mention the adorable Dirndls and Lederhosen worn by locals and visitors alike.

Munich’s most well-known Starkbierfest takes place at the Paulaner brewery at Nockherberg, but there are several others, too, including the Löwenbräukeller and Augustiner-Keller, all of which are easily reachable by public transportation. Here’s a listing (in German, but pretty easy to understand).

[see also: my post about our trip to the Starkbierfest on my personal blog for more photos and fun]

Post from: Europe String

What this really means is that Valentine’s Day is a great time to whisk your sweetheart off for a romantic European holiday. Mid-February is peak low season for travel to Europe (with the exception of ski areas), so there are great deals to be found all over the place. Fabulous dinner reservations aren’t so hard to make here since not as many people celebrate V-day with a night out. And let’s not forget how delicious the chocolates are on this continent… I brought my husband back a box of our favorite Swiss truffles on my recent trip to Zurich. Not that I’m that into celebrating Valentine’s Day, either, but it sure makes a great excuse to splurge on some Sprüngli.

Post from: Europe String