All access tour of German winery

It's incredibly hard to find information on wine tastings and vineyard visits in Stuttgart even though the town is surrounded by hills of vineyards. The tourist office gave us a brochure in German for a walkable wine route east of the city, so we boarded the S-Bahn and set out with a map neither of us could read.

We got off in the quaint town of Untertürkheim. Just at the foot of a hill with large vineyard was a red-brick building of the Weinmanufaktur Untertürkheim. Celebrating its 125 anniversary the wine making company operates like a co-op. Local families harvest their grapes (by hand) and bring them to the 'weingut', the wine making factory as it was translated by the tourist office.

The wine tasting room was gorgeous - later we found out it had just been renovated in honor of the 125th anniversary. We waited in the check-out line to see how the tasting worked. The cashier told us to help ourselves - yes, we were told to taste, at will, any of the over 40 bottles opened. Most of the wines were foreign to us - Trollinger, Lemberger, Spätburgunder, Rivaner - which made the experience more exciting.

We started with the whites, which were quite nice. And as we began tasting the reds we were joined by Sara, an employee of the winery and daughter of a local vineyard owner. She began explaining the difference in the wines and the history of the company.

After a few more samples she offered to take us on a tour of the winery - something they don't normally do. We saw the wine cave (the building used to be owned by Mercedes-Benz and the cave was where financial paperwork was processed) and the pressing room. In the wine cave was their library with a barrel from each year the winery has been open. She told us people will call up and order bottles from the year someone was born or married. This tour could have easily cost $20 in Napa, but it was free and impromptu. Sara said she loved walking us around because she doesn't "get excited helping the local grandpa pick up his wine every weekend." I asked her if many tourists visit the winery and she said no. Stuttgart has no idea the asset they have just a 10 minute ride from the city center.

We purchased two bottles from Sara. They were reasonably priced at €15, but taste like €50 bottles. This excursion was quite unexpected and we'll remember it for a while!

P.S. A four year old child may have been drinking a glass of red wine. Oh, those Europeans.