The VW Bulli has many fans. And we can confidently recommend a tour of Cologne to more than just them! Guido, Kai and Johannes are the three guys behind the Liebe Deine Stadt Tours (Love your city tours) concept. And the three of them have already developed a whole variety of tours, so you can discover a lot of Cologne here! We went on a wine tasting tour at Kai's invitation (thanks again!). It's logical, we already know a lot about Kölsch!
Real Bulli feeling in Cologne
The tour started on a summery Wednesday evening in front of the station. The other participants and we were waiting impatiently and full of anticipation when the van finally arrived in our typical red and white colors. Do you actually know why we have red and white as the colors in our coat of arms? It's simple, they are the colors of the Hanseatic League. And we were co-founders of the same! And of course the Cologne connection has to be carried through throughout the tours: So the van we climb into after being served a delicious Kölsch is called in the classic way: Mariele. Well, that's lovely!
And then the tour begins. As a VW bus fan, you naturally look more closely at every detail in the VW bus than at the street and the houses around it. But as a Cologne resident, you see them all the time, and we don't drive in the VW bus often enough. But of course our guide gives us a little preparation for the tour ahead. And then we arrive at our first destination in no time: the Cologne Weindepot.
A vineyard in Cologne
If you don't know the Weindepot yet, you've really missed something. Because not only can you buy wine here, but there are regular wine tastings and a wine museum. And that's not all: Cologne's only vineyard is located on the roof of the building! And of course you can climb up on it too.
An employee of the wine depot takes over this part of the tour and tells us passionately about the history of wine in Cologne. Of course he leaves out the topic of beer, but we can understand that. The topic of wine lovers versus beer drinkers is as old a story as that of cat lovers versus dog people. We don't hold it against him, after all we are on a wine tour. But we can say: Cologne's wine history is also very interesting! And of course there are two delicious wines that we taste here. By the way, these are not the same wines on every tour, the wine depot makes an effort with the selection and is happy to offer something from the current range of one of their winemakers! Highly recommended!
The "Imi" with the Urban Winery
Then we continue in the van to Ehrenfeld, to the IMI Winery. Here we get to know Jonathan and the concept of the Urban Winery. Jonathan was born in the Palatinate, but moved to the USA as a small child. This explains his mix of Palatinate and American dialect, in which he presents his wines and his work to us. Urban Winery means that his vineyards are in the Palatinate, the grapes for his products grow here, but the wine itself is made here in the city. What brought him to Cologne of all places? Love, of course! And that is where his love for Cologne came from.
The IMI in the IMI Winery is the nickname of his father, who has sadly passed away. It sounds fitting, but it also means that he built a life for himself here in Cologne as a so-called Imi (for those of you who are not from Cologne: an immigrant to the city). By the way, if you are interested in learning a little more here, you can also get actively involved, because Jonathan always needs volunteers to help, for example with filling the bottles. His love of art is also remarkable. It is no secret that we have many artists in Cologne who decorate the buildings. But hardly anyone knows that he also honors these artists by presenting their works on his labels. But it is not just the labels that make his wines worth buying: our taste assessment is 100% positive!
A fitting conclusion at Tappo
Once again we get into the beautiful van and drive on to Sülz to our last stop: the Tappo restaurant . Here we are again treated to wine, but what we particularly notice is that the restaurant not only places value on the wine selection, but also on the menu and excellent service! We can also recommend a visit here without reservation. But of course you can only get all three together if you opt for the Wine Tasting Tour from Liebe Deine Stadt - Touren.
In addition to this tour, the provider also offers a few other tours, so take a look at them too. We will definitely try them all out, because one thing is clear: this tour has made us want more! And maybe we will work together to create a very special Kölsch tour, who knows? Until then, you are very welcome to join us on our "normal" brewery tour !
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