Federweißer and Federroter, photo credit: Weingut Schmitt
A bottle of wine is a foregone harvest, a transmuted measure of the soil, sun, and rain that fed erstwhile grapes. Federweißer, however, is an immediate taste of the harvest. In 2007, I was fresh out of college and living in Mainz, Germany, a gateway to major wine regions like the Rheingau and Rheinhessen, when I first encountered the young, sweet, low-alcohol wine called Federweißer and its red counterpart, Federroter. It was late summer when wooden stalls selling Federweißer materialized throughout the pedestrianized city center. There, I had my first swigs alongside Zwiebelkuchen, a flaky onion tart with a caramelized…
Adam H. Callaghan is a New England–based editor and writer who speaks fluent German and has lived in Munich, Mainz, and Freiburg. He contributes to such publications as Food & Wine, Fodor’s, and Punch.
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