For several reasons, Bill and I had occasion to go to Ludwigsburg today.  First, we had a hail and farewell to attend for his company.  It was held at the very nice MWR run Stuttgart Golf Club in Kornwestheim.  Bill was originally supposed to get there early for a round of golf, but he was too tired after yesterday’s festivities at the Canstatter Volksfest.  He’s also not a golfer and knew that if he played today, I’d be sitting home alone all day.  We compromised and showed up at 1:00 for a nice lunch with his work buddies.

A shot of the golf course.  It’s pretty nice.  Maybe it’s time Bill learned how to play.  The club in Kornwestheim has a nice restaurant along with a biergarten.

After lunch, we stopped by Heinrich’s drink market to drop off some empty beer bottles and pick up some more suds.  On the way out of Heinrich’s, I realized that it was still before 4:00pm, which told me that Jacques’ Wein Depot was still open.  We had passed this location of the small wine store several times, but we’d never had a chance to stop.  Usually, we’re in Ludwigsburg too late in the day on Saturdays.  Today, thanks to the hail and farewell, we got there with 45 minutes to spare!

I’d been curious about Jacques’ Wein Depot for awhile, especially since I started the Stuttgart food and wine lovers Facebook group.  I wanted to see if it’s the kind of place I’d like to recommend to others.  Now, having had a chance to drop by, I can say that this chain store is definitely a great place to visit if you like your wine.  Here’s a link to their main Facebook page, though individual locations also have pages.

The first Thursday of every month is Weinabend at the Wein Depot in Ludwigsburg!

First thing’s first.  Bill and I were (and still are) pretty tired because we partied hard yesterday.  Consequently, when we first entered the store, we noticed they had a couple of tasting stations set up, but we couldn’t find clean glasses.  We felt pretty dumb when the sales guy pointed the the racks of glasses hanging over the stations.  I tried a few wines and determined there were a few I wanted to take home with me.  Had I wanted to, I could have dropped a serious load of euros in that store.  Behind the wine tasting stations, there were more bottles of wine that had obviously been tested.  A whole rack of them!  And they were being sold at very reasonable prices.

Taste away!  They make it easy at Jacques’ Wein Depot.

I was intrigued by this Chilean white.  I ended up bringing home a bottle.

I kind of wish I’d gotten some of this Chilean red.  I think I was put off because it was being sold in a box.  My parents used to buy Franzia wine in boxes all the time and I always thought it was kind of lowbrow.  I know now that’s not the case, but old prejudices sometimes die hard.

They even had little snacks to try.  I noticed that there were several gourmet items for sale, like pastas, oils, and sauces.

There are quite a few locations of Jacques’ Wein Depot in the Stuttgart area.  The one closest to us is in Böblingen, which means I may have to break down and visit sometime soon.

Now that we’ve found Jacques’ Wein Depot, we’ll surely be back.  But that’s one of the nice things about living here in the Stuttgart area.  There are so many places to buy nice wines at good prices.

 

All in all, it’s been a busy and productive day.  I think tonight, we’ll sit back and watch CHiPs on iTunes.  I am a child of the 70s and 80s, after all, and that Frank Poncherello looks great in his tight pants.