As winter wanes I'm reminded of its vinous pleasures in places along my latest wine route, such as Austria, Slovenia, Belgium, Luxembourg and, just before Christmas, Germany, where I visited Adolf Schmitt, an outstanding wine maker whose estate is one of those in the wine association Saar-Mosel-Winzersekt Gmbh (SMW, Gilbertstrasse 34, D-54230, Trier, fax +49 [651] 975-2920). Trier is a wine center of distinction and Germany's oldest city, with roots as far back as 2,000 years before Roman times.
I'm not only pleased to tell you about vintner Schmitt and Trier, I'm actually relieved, since my winery-visiting schedule for February was largely thwarted by fairly heavy snows in and considerably south of Vienna. Instead of reaching my scheduled destinations -- Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and other ports of call -- I spent most of my time snowbound in a winery, writing and gazing admiringly through its windows at the snow-laced limbs of trees -- all this over some wonderful wine.
I had time to reflect on Trier, SMW and Schmitt. SMW produces largely white wines that exemplify the extremely high quality standards of the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer region, which takes its name from those three rivers.