For this most magical time of the year, our annual celebration of February and Elbling – “Felbling” – we are proud to release the first vom Boden journal in four years – click here or the cover image above to be magically transported to this digital wonderland, a deep-dive into the forgotten, limestone-rich Upper Mosel (Obermosel) where one of Europe’s oldest varieties, Elbling, is making its last stand. We also profile the Hild estate, from Johann Hild in the 1890s to the nadir of the 1970s and the renaissance of the 1980s, led by none other than our hero Matthias “Matz” Hild and his son Jonas.
As part of “Felbling” we ask you all to spread the good word of Elbling. Celebrate Elbling however you want – tattoo your fingers, for example – but just let us know what you’re up to.
Email us images at info@vomboden.com, tag us @vomboden on Instagram – do whatever it is you do on TikTok? At the end of February, when the world becomes just a little less festive, because Felbling is over, we shall announce the “Archbishop-Elector of Elbling.” She/he or they will hold this honorary title for a year and receive spoils and riches the details of which haven’t quite been worked out yet. Who will be the next, the first (so far as we know) Archbishop-Elector of Ebling??? Stay tuned. (And why in the hell are we calling the title the “Archbishop-Elector”? See the Obermosel journal, page 3.)
In the meantime, we wish a most beautiful Felbling!