The big one

As you might know, the Alsace region is famous for its wines. Today, I got together with some of my family members, one of whom is a vintner. I spoke of his work last year.

It's always fun to go out with folks who actually know what they talk about when it comes to wines. After an amazing lunch, we went to a wine tasting place, where I got a bit of an "education" sampling various nectars. There was also a small museum of gear and equipment used across the years to grow, pick and process grapes. My cousin was a fount of information about what everything was and how it was used (in fact, he recalls using some of these devices himself while growing up). I just loved his passion and enthusiasm :)

The pic today is of Europe's largest wine barrel still in use: it holds 35,400 liters of wine (or 47,200 bottles). It was made in 1880, from Hungarian oak, each wood 'plank' is 11cm thick.