How Far Away Is The Horizon?

While pursuing attractive landscape photographs, I have taken many pictures that include the horizon. From time to time, a question occurred to me: how far away is that line I see?

For example, in the photograph below which I took while sailing off the island of Samos, what is the distance between me and the horizon?

At first, this may seem like a question that is almost impossible to answer. With a little thought, however, it turns out to be quite straightforward.

Since this blog attempts to reflect the beauty contained within the area I can see, I decided to calculate that distance—in other words, the radius of my visible world.

And it can be done rather simply.

The moment mathematics enters the discussion, many people immediately turn their eyes elsewhere. Still, with a little patience, you can see how the calculation works.

Consider the graphical masterpiece I produced below. The blue circle represents the Earth. I am standing at sea level, looking towards the horizon.

Let us assume that the Earth is perfectly spherical and that its radius is 6,370 kilometres, approximately its value at the Equator. In other words:

r = 6,370,000 metres

My height is:

h = 1.78 metres

What we want to find is the distance to the horizon, represented by u.

Since the diagram contains a right-angled triangle, we can use the famous theorem of Pythagoras: the sum of the squares of the two shorter sides is equal to the square of the hypotenuse.

In this case, the hypotenuse is the radius of the Earth plus my height.

(r + h)² = u² + r²

Expanding the expression gives:

r² + 2rh + h² = u² + r²

After cancelling the terms that appear on both sides:

2rh + h² = u²

Since we are interested not in the square of u, but in u itself, we take the square root:

u = √(2rh + h²)

When the values of r and h are placed into the formula, the result is:

u = 4,672 metres, or approximately 4.67 kilometres.

So, when standing at sea level on a clear day and looking towards the horizon, the visible limit lies slightly less than five kilometres away.

It was simply something I had wondered about, so I thought I would share it.

Update:

Increasing the height of the observation point above sea level greatly extends the distance we can see.

When I took the photograph below, the aircraft was flying at an altitude of 10,600 metres.

If we disregard the line of clouds obstructing the view and enter 10.6 kilometres as the viewing height in the same formula, the distance to the horizon is approximately 365 kilometres.

So, if you wish to see farther, it genuinely helps to rise a little higher.

Impressions from the Bordeaux Wine Region

Some cities are so closely associated with one particular thing that their names eventually become almost synonymous with it. Bordeaux is one of them. Yet the city itself is only part of the story. Surrounding it is one of the world’s best-known wine regions: a vast landscape of vineyards, small villages and producers whose wines range from modest everyday bottles to vintages costing thousands of euros.

I spent a week travelling through the region. These are some of the impressions that remained with me.

Bordeaux lies in southwestern France, about 600 kilometres from Paris and not far from the Atlantic coast. The city stands on the River Garonne, in the historic region of Aquitaine. The climate resembles that of the Mediterranean in some respects, though with one significant difference: rain is by no means unusual in summer.

Bordeaux has been an important settlement since Roman times, and grapes have been cultivated here for almost two thousand years. Today the region produces more than 900 million bottles of wine annually—a quantity rather difficult to imagine.

The range is enormous. There are inexpensive table wines, respectable bottles for ordinary consumption and wines that cost a small fortune. Vineyards extend in every direction, surrounding the towns and villages scattered across the countryside.

The most famous of these—and probably the largest—is Saint-Émilion, a medieval town about 30 kilometres east of Bordeaux. It is also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For anyone with time to visit only one place in the wine country, Saint-Émilion would be my choice. It appears not to have changed greatly in centuries.

Saint-Émilion is a town of stone buildings, narrow and often steep streets, and vineyards reaching almost to its outer walls. The main square is filled with cafés serving a constant flow of visitors from all over the world.

One might imagine that in a place so entirely devoted to wine, drunken people would be wandering through the streets at all hours. Nothing could be further from the truth. Here, wine is not primarily a means of becoming drunk. It belongs to a serious and deeply rooted culture of appreciation.

I took the following photograph of a wine shop in Saint-Émilion while standing just outside its door.

And now to the essential subject: the grapes.

Many varieties are grown in Bordeaux, but Merlot is the most widespread. Most producers do not make their wines from a single grape variety; instead, they blend several varieties in different proportions.

On the labels of more distinguished Bordeaux wines, the grape varieties are rarely given much prominence. What matters is the identity and style of the producer. Each château has its own blend, and the proportions may change from one vintage to another.

Less expensive wines are more likely to emphasise the grape variety. The more serious bottles present the producer, the château and the village. One should therefore not expect to find the word “Merlot” printed in large letters on the front of an important Bordeaux wine.

Besides Saint-Émilion, the best-known names include Saint-Estèphe, Pomerol, Margaux and Pauillac.

Immediately after leaving Saint-Émilion, the landscape begins to look like this.

And it continues in much the same way: vineyards everywhere. Thousands of producers transform each year’s harvest into hundreds of millions of bottles.

In recent years, competition from less expensive wines produced elsewhere in the world has made life more difficult for some local producers. The most prestigious wines, however, continue to sell extremely well, ensuring that at least some château owners remain quite content.

And this is where it all begins: a bunch of Merlot grapes still hanging on the vine.

From Saint-Émilion, we continue north towards Pomerol, another village whose wines can reach astonishing prices simply because the demand for them is so great.

As one approaches, there is a growing suspicion that the village will be very small. The suspicion proves correct. Pomerol has a population of only about 600 and does not even possess what one could properly call a village square.

This is the road into Pomerol.

Life here appears quiet and slow. It is difficult to believe that wines produced in such a small and unassuming place are sold throughout the world.

Like the other villages of the region, Pomerol is surrounded by vineyards belonging to estates known as châteaux. The term reflects older traditions of land ownership; many estates once included a large residence or an imposing winery building. Some still resemble castles. Others require a little more imagination, whatever their names may suggest.

Here is one near Pomerol.

Further north lies Margaux, another celebrated name in the world of wine. After driving for kilometres through vineyards, one arrives at yet another surprisingly small village.

Compared with Pomerol, Margaux almost seems substantial. It has around 1,500 inhabitants, a small square and several shops.

Welcome to Margaux.

It is difficult to determine where the village ends and the vineyards begin. The vines reach the streets and surround even the church and cemetery.

A small warning: picking grapes from the vineyards is not appreciated. This did not entirely prevent us from discreetly tasting one or two when nobody appeared to be watching.

Beyond the last houses, there are once again endless rows of vines, interrupted only by the occasional château.

Some of them genuinely do resemble castles.

One question naturally occurred to me: how can such an immense area possibly be harvested?

Most of the grapes are collected mechanically. It would be nearly impossible to do otherwise. The most valuable grapes, however, are still picked by hand, and during the harvest it is common to see workers moving through the vineyards with baskets.

The harvesting machines are interesting in themselves. They are large vehicles, not unlike combine harvesters, designed to travel between the rows and remove the grapes with as little damage as possible.

From a distance, the process looks like this.

Back on the road.

A journey through the Bordeaux wine region would be incomplete without Pauillac. Three of the five estates awarded the highest rank in the famous 1855 classification are situated here. Tasting wines at the level of Premier Grand Cru Classé is not an inexpensive activity.

Pauillac is as modest in appearance as the other villages, although it has a population of around 5,000 and even something resembling a main street.

Here it is.

The main street cannot be described as busy, although one is told that several cars may appear towards the end of the working day.

The village stands beside the Gironde estuary, its main street running parallel to the water. Behind it is a network of narrow streets, most of which look remarkably similar. There is not a great deal more to see.

That judgment may be slightly unfair. Pauillac does possess one memorable building: an old cinema that seems to have survived unchanged from the 1960s.

The sight of it made me wonder whether such places still existed. It reminded me of the cinema in Giuseppe Tornatore's movie Cinema Paradiso. Appropriately enough, this one is called Cinema Eden.

Beside it stands the village’s only shop selling local products. Entering it immediately alters one’s impression of Pauillac. Bottles priced at €700 or €800 sit quietly on the shelves.

The village may be simple. Its wines certainly are not.

Since few visitors are prepared to purchase bottles at such prices, some of these wines can be tasted by the glass. It should be added that this is not particularly cheap either.

Back on the road once more.

Having travelled through the wine country, it is finally time to visit Bordeaux itself.

With a population of about 250,000, Bordeaux is one of France’s larger cities. It has preserved much of its historic architecture while remaining lively and youthful.

The Romans developed Bordeaux as a port, and the city enjoyed a period of great prosperity during the eighteenth century. Its fortunes declined in the early twentieth century, but substantial investment in recent decades has transformed and revitalised it.

Bordeaux is especially impressive when seen from the banks of the Garonne.

The old warehouses and commercial buildings along the river have been restored and now contribute greatly to the character of the city.

There is no shortage of places to eat and drink, and social life is surprisingly active for a city of this size. Bordeaux also has a substantial cultural life and considerably more to offer than its worldwide association with wine might suggest.

The Grand Théâtre is one example.

I had only one afternoon to spend in Bordeaux, but it was enough to form a first impression. The main purpose of the journey, after all, had been to explore the surrounding wine region.

Before concluding, I should also mention where we stayed.

Throughout the trip, we stayed at La Maison Laurencine, a country house about 12 kilometres from Saint-Émilion and surrounded by vineyards. It had only four guest rooms, and the owners lived in the house themselves.

There are many places of this kind in the region. Ours was immaculately clean, carefully furnished and run by genuinely hospitable hosts. In spite of all this, the price was remarkably reasonable.

Here it is.

These, then, are my impressions of a region that takes the transformation of grapes into wine extremely seriously.

And perhaps rightly so. Wine has accompanied human civilisation for a very long time.

Review: RME ADI-2 DAC FS

In the age of digital music sources, DACs are of primary importance for good sound. It's not easy to comprehend the evolution of DACs from a distance. For analogue lovers digital is digital, which is always inferior to their choice of music source. Others who feel that somehow there's some change, might be hesitant to accept the level of technology available for music enthusiasts.

Anyway, for those of us who try to stay away from hifi myths and are ready to accept (sometimes with some reservations of course) what technology presents us, there's joy and practicality to enjoy music at home. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not a techo-junkie. It's just a matter of evaluating without prejudice what is available at our service at the moment and still be critical enough to not accept every novelty as a magic step towards good sound.

It's been many years that I transfered all my music collection to computer environment. I have been using MPD on Linux as a source through an external DAC. It was a Musical Fidelity V-DAC at the beginning. In time, I had DACs from HRT, Musical Fidelity again, Teac, Cambridge Audio, iFi and Pioneer. It was easy for me to see the difference of new generations of DAC chips from different manufacturers and their adaptations in various models. It's a pleasure to see (or hear) how the sound of digital audio evolved in a short time of just some years.

My last choice of DAC for my system is the humble looking product of RME of Germany. I knew this brand as a producer of studio equipment. They had an ADC/DAC unit that was available for a few years that became a favourite of music producers and up to a level of some music lovers. But honestly, why should you spend your money for a devide that works both ways of converting music on a home hifi system when what you need is to convert from digital to analog only? It seems RME people understood the demand and decided to produce a product that does what you need for listening only. Still, they were reluctant to leave their roots as a supplier of studio devices and prefered to design a DAC that could be used both by hifi enthusiasts and by studio people who need to listen what they produce.

So comes the ADI-2 DAC FS. A small device with a strange name. This is not the first model of the range but a newer version of a previous model.

It's small, too small for a home hifi product unless your choice of listening is by headphones alone.

This is how ADI-2 DAC FS (new generation) looks like.

There's no internal power supply. An ordinary looking external switching supply is the power source for the unit. A jerky plug at the end of adapter cable fits into the input terminal on the back of the unit by pushing and turning to lock the plug. Once done it's OK but you are supposed to be very careful or read all the user's manual before even connecting the power cable.

There are all the digital inputs you expect on a contemporary DAC and both unbalanced RCA and balanced XLR analogue outputs on the back. Front side has two phones outputs. The second one is some novelty for in-ear monitors that require different output characteristics.

I use the unit to feed my integrated amplifier, so back side connections are my choice to hook up the unit in my line from source to speakers.

Once you operate the unit, you realise that this is not a mainstream DAC. Of course, those who start reading the exemplary user's manual will understand this before even turning the unit on. Yes, the user's manual is something I have been missing in all equipment I bought in the last 10 years minimum. It's a 72 pages booklet that try to explain all the features of this DAC with honesty. You have to understand from the beginning that this DAC is capable of a lot of tunings beyond converting bits into waveform.

As you can imagine, at first I just plugged in the DAC and run it as it is to see how it performs on factory set values.

My system is based on a laptop running MPD on Kubuntu as souce. RME DAC is in between the computer and a Marantz PM-11s3 integrated amplifier which feeds a pair of KEF R900 speakers. Most of my music collection consists of FLAC files of both standard and high resolution types and some are DSD files.

My first impressions of this DAC after listening to some jazz and classical music were absolutely positive. A smooth and detailed sound that was unlike any other DAC I used before. You immediately realise that this device is a technological marvel, nothing less.

After spending some time listening to music I knew, it was time to fine tune the DAC to use its full potential. It was at this moment I realised the negatives of the physical design of the unit. It's too small for what it's supposed to perform. There are four tiny push buttons you need to press that are lined up vertically and are just milimeters away from each other. Even the two rotary knobs on the far right side that also function as push buttons are so close to each other that you are unable to make a full turn since your fingers get stuck in between the knobs.

This is where the RME team compromised a hifi design for a studio equipment because as I understand, this box size is a rack standard on recording studios. For home use, it's ridiculous to squeeze all these buttons and knobs in such a small area. A DAC of similar size is Teac UD-301 but it has only two buttons and a volume control on it that are sparsely placed.

One additional negative point is the choice of feet for the unit. The DAC is very light weight and the push-in knobs require a decent presure to apply for the settings. You can guess the outcome. The ADI-2 always slips back on the desk whenever you press a knob. I had to stick elastic non-slip feet to make it stand still while I was making changes in the setup.

You can see the additional circular plastic non-slip paddings I used on all the four feet. It's beyond my understanding how the designers can overlook such a simple but obvious problem.

The biggest feature on the façade of the device is not knobs or connections but the LCD display that really makes a difference. There is a high level of information available to see what the unit is doing and to make changes according to your choice. Main screen has a precise spectrum analyser and VU meters. You already saw this screen in the two pictures above. More versions of main screen are available that concentrate on volume level and input signals but since I use the fixed output level in my setup, I'm not much interested at output level. However, be aware that this is not an ordinary DAC where you can choose the fixed or variable output level by a small switch at the back panel. You have to go into menus to select the fixed output level precisely to your taste or equipment feed and this is just the top of the iceberg. You can change so many settings that you need to arrange a position for yourself where you feel comfortable facing the RME DAC since you are supposed to spend some significant time tuning a variety of parameters of crazy detail and testing to see if it fits your taste. You might easily turn out to be a paranoiac trying to hear the differences during all those tunings. But after you feel like you finished your process and get away from the DAC to your listening position, you are rewarded with a magnificent sound. I spent almost three evenings for finishing up with all these crazy variables and now I can take a glass of wine to enjoy my music in the dimmed lights of my room.

An experienced DAC user might ask the plain question "There might be some choices of digital filters but what else?" Well, you have to read the user's manual to see what the else is!

Let's move to listening impresions. My FLAC files never sounded this smooth, enjoyable and solid before. A good recording really shines with this DAC. Mediocre ones are processed according to your choice but don't expect miracles.

I also listened to some DSD files to hear how my new DAC handles them. At first, RME didn't accept them as they are and MPD (music player daemon, my source software) converted them to PCM as it should do if the USB DAC connected is not able to play DSD. After reading again the related part in the manual I realised that RME accepts DoP protocol for DSD signal. I had to modify the configuration file of MPD to feed DoP bits to the DAC. There were no bad surprises, DSD was on the DAC to convert to analog signal. You can get this information clearly on the LCD panel as shown below.

Optical and Coaxial inputs are not connected and there's DSD signal on the USB input.

How does DSD sound? Well, it depends on the recording quality just as in FLAC. I'm not a big fan of DSD. It's very clear that when technical characteristics are objectively compared, there's nothing extra in DSD over hi-resolution PCM. But if I'm to evaluate the DAC alone, the sound of DSD is just as the sound of PCM: top class.

So, where are we at the end? This is an exceptionally well made product on the electronics side. I have absolutely nothing to complaint. On the physical/mechanical side, there is way to go. Why do we have to fiddle with these tiny buttons, awkwardly placed knobs, slippery feet on such a high quality (and not cheap!) DAC?

See RME ADI-2 DAC FS next to my Marantz amplifier below.

Even the connection cables look huge compared to the DAC itself. They are not some exotic ones costing more than the DAC itself, by the way. These are DIY cables I made using decent and reasonably priced parts.

Now comes the last words. This is a very enjoyable, talented, honest piece of high tech equipment. I sincerely wished to see it in a larger box that is easier and pleasant to control.

So, function over form, sound over physical design, this DAC really makes a difference.

Review: Tannoy Gold 5 active monitors

Active monitor speakers are mainly for music production work but they are becoming popular among consumers like me, who wish to listen to "good sound" from a computer on the desk. These monitors are for nearfield listening, which means you sit close to the speakers that look to your face. The aim is not to fill the room with loud music but to create a sound stage in close distance before you.  Well, at least they say so and this coincides with what I expected them to perform.

I can claim that my ears are accustomed to good sound. Listening to music is more than hobby to me, it's some serious activity I perform as defined by "Res severa verum gaudium" which means "True pleasure is a serious affair." Roman philosopher Seneca wrote it a long time ago and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra use it as their motto.

I started investigating for small active monitors for my personal use at my desk and after some evaluation my choice turned out to be Tannoy Gold 5 speakers.

These speakers are the smallest model of a line of three sizes. Gold 5, Gold 7 and Gold 8. The numbers represent the speaker diameter in inches which also shape the overall size of the speaker cabinet. Dimensions of Gold 5 are 29.5cm (H) x 18.5cm (W) x 23.0cm (D) which makes it a reasonable speaker for desktop use.

Let's see the outer box of the speaker as it arrived.

Each speaker is packed individually, so I received two boxes which were easy to unpack and it took a very short time to set the speakers on my desk.

I use my computer as a bit-perfect source to feed my TEAC UD-301 DAC which in turn drives the active speakers. You have to know some tricks to get the music data bit-perfect (which means without any software conversions and manipulations) from your computer, but this is not a must to get some good sound especially if your music files are not better than mp3. I also have a collection of concert videos that I enjoy on the screen. Some decent sound accompanying them would be nice for sure.

So, here's my setup which shows the brand new Tannoys.

My listening position makes an equilateral triangle with the speakers on two corners, quite ideal for a stereo image.

Let's get to some details of the speakers. They look and feel solid. The enclosure is some moulded synthetic material that is quite thick. It's not made of wood such as MDF (I later discovered that the units are made of thick MDF covered with a black vinyl layer.) The retro design is obvious, big knobs on the faceplate, old style logo that also shows a side drawing of the speaker driver (or a historical model) and gold trimmings around the speaker and front firing reflex port.

Are they beautiful? Well, it depends on your inclinations and aesthetic approach. I'm not a nostalgic person, so this is not the design of my dreams but it's also not distracting or kitsch. I might say I even started enjoying the design after spending some time looking at them.

The main thing to talk about these monitors is of course the drivers themselves. This is a two way design with separate amplifiers for each driver. The tweeter is placed in the middle of the woofer, so Tannoy calls this design "concentric transducers" This helps in creating the sound image as originating from a single source. There's a gold coloured, metal waveguide around the tiny tweeter. This looks like some steam-punk design to me but I must say right now that it works!

The woofer cone is made of some synthetic material that I'm not sure of. Not paper, not kevlar, not aluminium but some plastic stuff that seems light weight and rigid, which is good.

There are two knobs on the front. One is a potentiometer, like a volume control and the other is a five stop switch for fine tuning treble response. A round green LED indicates power.

All together, it looks like this.

You can make a size comparison with the mouse in the front.

The backside is covered by a metal cover, probably aluminium. There are two main inputs, both balanced type. A secondary "aux" mini-jack input is also available to connect directly to a phone's earphone output. There's a three position "bass adjust" switch to attenuate the lower frequency output by -2 or -4 dB. This might be handy since the bass level of the speaker is surprisingly strong.

Here's how Gold 5 looks at the back.

I connected my TEAC DAC to Tannoys by XLR cables. TEAC has both XLR balanced outputs and RCA unbalanced type.

All in all, Gold 5 gives you an impression of some good engineering and detailed thinking. Quality of materials used is very high for the price level. There's no indication of cheapness. The only trouble is the level of workmanship. Contours of front baffle to the sides are not all aligned perfectly and in one of the speakers there's a worn out part of gold trimming around the reflex port. Rest is OK.

Then comes the critical part: how do they sound? For such small speakers (and price level) they sound good, really good. Two things got my attention. The first is the level of analytical sound. I was surprised to hear the single instruments in an harmonious overall sound. Impressive. The second is the linearity of the output through the frequency range. I'm not able to give figures, this is a subjective evaluation by listening to music I know.

My preference is mainly symphonic music and classical jazz. I have some very good recordings that I could use for testing immediately. I was not able to find a major weakness that I could complain.

Professional reviewers mostly write about some music they listen to when they review an instrument. "Listening to singer A in album B, I was able to hear the percussions at the right level" or something similar. For me, I was never lucky enough to listen to the same albums they mentioned so it was mostly meaningless detail they talked about. Hence, I will not write about my impressions for specific tracks and instead just give my overall subjective rating: I liked the sound of these monitors. The most positive point I might mention is when listening at lower levels at night (I live in an apartment). Analytical but smooth sound that feels like coming from a high end system. Not too bright, not too sharp. The level of perfection decreases when you increase the volume to high levels. (After listening music for many hours, I revise my comment. The level of perfection decreases only when you increase the volume to really very high levels). At very high volumes you can feel the limitations of small drivers and probably economically produced amplifiers inside. But for my usage, these speakers are absolutely good choice.

I hope they last long!

A Shot in the Dark: Late Night Chat

I'm at a quiet corner on a tropical island. Out of the blue, a surrealist scene emerges right in front of my eyes in the darkness of the night. Two men are chatting by the bar that illuminates itself alone in the middle of nothingness. I found myself watching this scene, remaining in the darkness. A warm atmosphere, the roof of the bar is decorated with colorful lights. Nevertheless, an unspoken sadness looms in the air. The men look as if they are exchanging grievances, tranquile, as if they are the only ones left in the whole world.

After a while I came to my senses and took the following photograph.

15mm, f:2.8, 1/13 sec, ISO 800

They say that a photograph is worth a thousand words. To me, this shot is one of those pictures. I, for one wouldn't be able to describe this scene with words.

Handheld as always, without a tripod. Then I postprocessed to jpg using Rawtherapee.

(English text by Banu Büyükkal)

Images: Greenland

The title may mislead you to think that I set foot in Greenland, I just flew over it. 

This huge island next to the North Pole naturally has no seasons other than winter.  This is a mostly uninhabited frozen country, as it cannot provide a hospitable environment for people to live in comfort. It had pertained to Denmark at the end of an interesting historical chain of events. 

I photographed the big mass of glacier which joins the sea within a narrow inlet on the southern part of Greenland. This is the best image I could capture from behind the many layers of the small window of a plane flying at an altitude of 10 km.

When we go into more detail, we can clearly see the glacier slowly flowing to the sea. The picture below reflects the view formed by the fluid mass making its way towards the sea. 

 

Even from such a distance, it is very exciting to be able to see this magnificent formation. I could take these shots, thanks to a clear weather. 

Right after taking the above pictures, I photographed the map on the video screen of my seat. Thus, I can give an idea about the location of these scenes.

 

These photos were the reward of sitting on a window seat on the flight from Istanbul to New York. I hadn't the slightest idea at the start of my journey that I would be able to capture such shots.

Images: Deidesheim

I had the opportunity of visiting the wine route and the village of Deidesheim during a business trip to Germany. It was a short stay but because of perfect timing - I was there right during vintage season - I had the privilege of enjoying the authentic ambiance of the area.

This part of Germany is within the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It enjoys a mild climate, quite untypical for Germany. Being close to France and Luxembourg, wine production is the main economic activity of the area. I was surprised to see the vast vineyards stretching for kilometres along the Weinstrasse, that is "route of wine"

Beautiful historical villages come one after another while driving on the Weinstrasse. Deidesheim is such a town resting peacefully on the countryside by the river Rhine.

Here's a typical street view of the town, reflecting the end of a beautiful September day.

Dating back to 13th century, Deidesheim today shines proudly with an historical background.

After strolling the streets of the town, I had the opportunity to dine at the nice restaurant of hotel Deidesheim Hof. Once the favourite place of former chancellor Helmut Kohl, this restaurant enjoyed the presence of World leaders visiting Germany.

 A shot of the restaurant before going inside for dinner.

We had a significant fine-dining experience at Deidesheimer Hof. A nice surprise was the well balanced Pinot noir wine of the area that accompanied our dinner. That was the best German wine I ever tasted.

Let me present a picture of the Pinot Noir grape from the vineyard I visited during the daytime I spent at Weinstrasse. The taste is great even as a grape fresh from the branch.

Grape, once the fruit for the Gods, is a marvel of nature for us to enjoy.