A city with taste

2:29pm Saturday 24th May 2008

IT was a request that took away the breath of Jan Kampe.

"Fetch me a bottle of your 1727 wine," said the Czech diner in the vaulted restaurant below the historic Bremen Rathaus (town hall).

He wasn't referring to the bin number on the wine list. It was a bottle of wine actually laid down in 1727 that he wanted.

Just a short time earlier he had been on a tour of the town hall cellars where the Bremer Ratskeller wine company trades and lovingly looks after the largest collection in the world of German vintage wine.

Among the bottles stored there is Germany's oldest, drinkable bottled wine - a Rudesheimer Apostelkeller dating from 1727. And the Czech diner was adamant he wanted a bottle from that year.

That was a problem for Jan Kampe, a senior manager at the Ratskeller. The wine is in what is known as the treasure chamber of the cellars where vintages for just about every year since 1901 have also been locked away.

Only the Cellar Master had access to the key to the treasure chamber - and he was away. And what should Jan charge for a bottle, anyway? A phone call to the Cellar Master solved the problem.

He gave permission to sell a bottle from the box of six, then revealed to Jan where the key was kept - and suggested a price of 1,500 euros.

"I'll box it up for you so that you can take it away," Jan told the Czech diner.

"I'll drink it now," came the reply. "Sit down and join me."

Jan recalls: "My hand was trembling as I opened it."

And the verdict on the 280-year-old wine? "It was like a mature, smooth sherry," says Jan.

The 1727 wine is the oldest bottled wine in the Ratskeller - but not the oldest of all wines there. A cask still exists of a vintage kept from 1653. The Mayor of Bremen and the Cellar Master used to be allowed to sample it each year.

But that practice has now been abandoned to preserve the wine for posterity.

A tour of the cellars is fascinating. But if that cannot be fitted in by visitors to Bremen, dining out in the stylish atmosphere of the Bremer Ratskeller restaurant and sampling the enormous wine list is not to be missed.

But Bremen is not just for the connoisseur of wine. It is also the home of Beck's brewery - tours can be made here, too - and a fine array of coffee houses, which is not surprising as the first coffee house in a German-speaking country opened in Bremen by the side of the River Weser in 1673.

And, of course, every coffee house has its selection of mouthwatering cream cakes and tarts - a German speciality.

Particularly fascinating is a walk around the narrow streets of the Schnoor, Bremen's old town where fishermen and sailors used to live but where you now find restaurants, cafes, boutiques and galleries.

With its proximity to the North Sea, herring dishes - presented in an appetising variety of ways - are a popular feature of the menus, as is fresh white asparagus.

Just a short distance up river from the Schnoor is the Schlachte, a riverside promenade of restaurants and bars, ideal for lunch times or long summer evenings. The city is an attractive mix of the old and the new and the beauty of Bremen is that the centre is so compact. So many tourist venues are within easy walking distance. And for those wanting to venture further afield the city has an enviable tram system.

The more energetic could hire a bike, at a cost of eight euros a day, for an amazing amount of people use two wheels to get around the city which goes out of its way to cater for cyclists.

Bremen should certainly figure on a shortlist of destinations for short-break shopping trips. Apart from its old-town boutiques and modern shopping malls, there is the Green Market, with a vast array of fresh fruit, vegetables and flower.

And for a month leading up to December 25, the market place and adjoining streets are filled with the Bremen's Christmas market - and if you want to visit the city for that huge attraction, be sure to book well in advance.

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