And on the seventh day they closed their doors

I was recently in Germany for some non-wine related work, and found I had an afternoon to myself. As was hunkering down in the little Rhine town of Rudesheim for the night, I thought some vinous exploration was in order.

I marched off down cobblestone streets, and up the narrow Drosselgasse – choke alley – where timbered houses seem to lean inward, pressing you up the street or into one of the many bars and restaurants that lie await, just one step to the left or right.

I survived, and was spat out the end of this tubular tourist trap, euros and dignity intact. I saw a sign with an arrow proclaiming “Weingut something-or-other” this way. Perfect, I thought, and off I went to taste some wine, ask all the questions, and be ‘that guy’ tasting room staff the world over dread.

The arrows soon lead me to a locked door. “Harumph”, I murmured to a pair of passing Japanese tourists, “konnichiwa,” they replied. I pressed on. Thankfully another “Weingut that-a-way” sign came in to view. Frustratingly, this also led to a locked door. A third yielded the same result. What the devil is going on I thought, why do these Germans spurn my custom?

As a carillon of bells rang out the answer struck me, it was Sunday. Thankfully, corner-shops care naught for the Lord’s Day, and I settled down on a bench to watch the Rhine trundle past with a few cold Bitburgers.

As I sat and sipped I thought that though we may be a few steps ahead of our old-world counterparts when it comes to wine tourism, we both fall into the agonizingly annoying, and nonsensical notion of closing our tasting rooms on a Sunday.

Open up the latest John Platter Guide and flick through the pages – so much red these days – until you find the table listing all wineries by region with their accompanying amenities. There are columns indicating whether or not an appointment is needed to taste, and if the winery is open on Saturday, Sunday, and public holidays.

Running my finger lazily down the Sunday column I find it rather empty. Why, I ask myself do wineries open for tastings on a Monday, as the population return to work, and close up shop on a Sunday when they are at their leisure?

While international tourists do not care what day of the week it is, the locals surely do, and some prefer to get their communion drop straight from the source, rather than under the watchful gaze of the Dominee.

Sundays are perfect for long drives through beautiful vineyards. Coffee in Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Hermanus or Riebeek Kasteel, followed by a few tastings at the surrounding farms and then lunch. Sundays were designed for leisure, and is there a drink more leisurely than wine? So why do farms shut their doors?

Not all do, of course, and many such as Spier, Backsberg, and Fairview do a roaring trade on the 7th day. But if you visit the wine lands regularly, you desire new experiences. You yearn to try that next place, “just around the corner”. This becomes challenging, when after a few Sunday wine trips you have visited all those that open.

Is it because the wine lands are so puritanical that wine tasting on a Sunday offends them? Or is it because there are no staff on Sundays as everyone is at church or visiting Fairview? One answer I’ve heard is that because staff on Sundays are normally temporary, owners worry about the service their customers on Sunday will receive. This is, of course, poppycock, and says more about what the owners think of local business than their reputation.

If you are a local wine lover who wants to explore the wine lands on your weekend, you should take it as an affront, a cold, damp herring to the face by wineries who care so little for your business. Wineries, open your gates on a Sunday, and let your wine loving brethren in.

– Harry Haddon