Wine & Food

In a Rhinehessian Straußwirtschaft, you rarely order from a menu. You order "Weck, Worscht un Woi" — a bread roll, a slice of Fleischwurst, and a glass of the house wine, usually a dry Müller-Thurgau or a light Silvaner. Nothing more is needed. Under German licensing law, a Straußwirtschaft is only permitted to serve simple fare anyway, not a proper kitchen menu.

The classic accompaniment is Spundekäs. Cream cheese and quark are mixed in a two-to-three ratio with salt, pepper, and paprika, and served with pretzels or toasted bread. The name comes from the Spund, the wooden bung of a wine barrel, because the creamy spread was traditionally shaped just like it. It doesn't pair well with Riesling, since the sharp paprika overwhelms the wine's fruit. A Silvaner or Weißburgunder with pronounced acidity works far better.

A spicier variation is Handkäs mit Musik: a small, pungent sour-milk cheese marinated in vinegar, oil, and raw onions. The "music" lies in the onions, whose flavor lingers for hours afterward. A delicate wine won't stand a chance here. A robust, high-acid Riesling from the Roter Hang holds its own without being overpowered, since its own acidity doesn't amplify the vinegar's bite but balances it instead.

In autumn, at harvest time, a different pairing takes center stage: Zwiebelkuchen and Federweißer. The onion tart is hearty, built from bacon, cream, and plenty of slow-cooked onions, while Federweißer is its exact opposite: a young, still-fermenting grape must with a lively fizz and low alcohol. Since 2007, this cloudy, sweetish must made from Rheinhessen grapes has officially been allowed to call itself "Rheinhessischer Federweißer." In hardly any other region is it served as naturally with autumn fare as it is here.

Two rules stick. Salt and fat make an angular wine more approachable, just as the fat in Spundekäs rounds off the Silvaner's acidity, while sweet accompaniments call for an equally sweet, or at least fruity, wine alongside them. A dry Grosses Gewächs served next to Zwiebelkuchen would otherwise come across as thin and sour.