OK, I LOVE THIS!!!! It’s been on my list to get over here for-EVER and review this little gem for you guys, so let’s get to it!
(::Leans in conspiratorially to whisper…::) Tell me… have you ever spent much time at the Weinkeller in Epcot’s Germany Pavilion?
Germany Courtyard
Well, git on over there. Cause it’s got some stuffs.
Atmosphere and Eats
Tucked in next door to Die Weihnachts Ecke Christmas shop (it’s also a neighbor to Biergarten Restaurant), if you walk through the Weinkeller too quickly, you may think it only sells bottles of wine along with some odds and ends like German cookbooks, chocolates, and a few other souvenirs.
The Weinkeller
And while it’s definitely fun to check out the take-away offerings in this cozy, beautifully lit shop, the back of the room holds a bar where you can buy wines by the glass. They have a pretty nice selection as well as helpful Cast Members who can offer descriptions of the various wines available to your preferred taste.
Bar at The Weinkeller
Best of all, though (or my favorite, at least), just might be the Wine Flights: you can choose the Red, White, or Dessert Flight, and receive three 2 ounce pours for each. (By the way, this is not to be confused with the Wine Walk, though the Weinkeller is still the spot in Germany where you can start yours).
I love the value of the dessert flight — three pours including an ice wine for $14.09? Sign me up!!
Wine Flight Options
But this time we selected the White Wine Flight since we also wanted to sample the Cheese Plate.
Cheese Plate at The Weinkeller
What’s that? You haven’t heard of the Artisanal Cheese Plate at the Weinkeller? Well, this small assortment of three cheeses provides a pretty decent bang for the buck at $5.00. In fact, it’s one of those little dishes that kind of gives me the feel of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, even when the Festival isn’t going on.
The Artisanal Cheese Plate comes with a Muenster (Yum), Cambozola (aha?), and a Cheddar Cheese along with Smoked Alpine Ham, two Pretzel Sticks, and Pickles.
Artisanal Cheese Plate
So, we’ve got three cheeses and three white wines — the perfect opportunity for a little pairing. Prost! (That’s German for YES! ALCOHOL!)
White Wine Flight and Cheese Plate
Lets take a peek at the White Wine Flight. It comes with two Rieslings (Two Princes and Schloss Vollrads) and a Spatlese Riesling (Selbach) — one of my personal favorites. Oh, and a handy printout with descriptions of each!
White Wine Flight
That’s one of the things I also like about this experience — it’s really welcoming for newcomers to the world of wine tasting and/or pairing. Not only is information provided with the printouts, but the Cast Members are also available to walk you through any questions. For instance, I was advised to pair the first of the wines, the Two Princes Reisling, with the Muenster and Alpine Ham.
Prost!
Muenster and Smoked Alpine Ham
The Two Princes Riesling is described as “delicate flavors of apricot and nectarine, with a lovely, crisp finish.” This Riesling was on the dry side, yet it wasn’t harsh. I’m a sweet wine fan, and this wasn’t too edgy for me.
Two Princes Riesling
We paired the Schloss Vollrads Riesling with the Cambozola cheese — a slightly more intense flavor to match the strength of the creamy, bleu Cambozola.
Schloss Vollrads Estate Riesling
The pretzel sticks definitely make a fun, crunchy garnish! And, you know, when in Germany… .
Cambozola and Pretzel Sticks
Finally, it was the Selbach-Oster Riesling Spatlese with the Cheddar and pickles. While the Cheddar is the least exotic of the cheese assortment, it’s still really tasty (umm, hello… CHEESE!), and puts some welcome sharp edges on the the fruitiness of the Spatlese Riesling.
Cheddar and Pickles
Spatlese
Overall
So, seriously, did you even know this was back there? The wine flights have been there for a while, but the cheese plate is new-to-me in the past year or so and I couldn’t wait to dig in.
This is one of those little, “what? what’s that doing there?” things that pops up from time to time in Epcot, offering a little more magic than you’d expect from theme park food.
I think it’s a great find — and a great deal (you can get a wine flight and the cheese plate for under $20, easy). Plus, it’s quick enough to stand-and-sample while the kids are inspecting the Christmas shop next door — score!
Have you sampled anything lately at the Weinkeller? Please let us know with a comment!
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I love your article, but PROST is German for Cheers!
That sounds delish, I knew about the win flight, but not the cheese. Can you still do this during the Food and Wine Festival?
It sounded like a good deal.
🙂
So glad you posted this!! We’ll be there in 2 weeks (YAY) and this sounds like a perfect thing to do to beat the heat and grab a drink and small snack!
Thanks for the post!
Love this little hidden gem! My wife and I went there probably 4-5 times on our last trip specifically for this wine flight! Our favorite of all the flights at Epcot.
My boyfriend and I almost stopped to try the wine flight and cheese plate last time we were there, but didn’t. It will definitely be on my list for next time. I saw a family there who had ordered a few wine flights and two cheese plates and seemed to be loving it. I love these little tucked-away places in the Disney parks.
My husband and I did not do the wine flight but did the cheese plate and it was YUUMMMYY!! Going back in October and hope to have it again along with all the goodies at the Food and Wine festival!!
I love Riesling, and I didn’t know about this place. Looks like I will have to sample the Rieslings here before my ADR at Biergarten, where I will of course drink more Riesling.
Does anyone know if there are any champagne flights available anywhere in Disney?
We enjoyed the wine flight, cheese plate and meat plate. All were wunderbar. Great place to wait out a thunderstorm too.
Another one of my “secret” places has been discovered. I love the cheese plate and always get it along with my favorite dark beer Eurdinger Dunkel (I hope I spelled this correctly).
My wife and will be trying this next week .
So what’s the white stuff on the Pretzel Sticks?
We love doing this every time we hit Epcot. We really do like the 2 Princes though, we found this wine at Publix here in Florida as well. Really good for us. They used to serve 2 Princes in the restaurant only, we asked them one day of we could buy it by the glass and they let us 🙂 Disney is great like that….. Ever since then, they have offered it in the wine tasting line up, so happy!!
I had this last year and both the wine and cheese was great and I thought a fair price
Thank you for posting about this! Will be trying this next week!
I had NO IDEA this existed! We may have to give it a shot on our next trip.
Also, John, pretty sure that was a joke… haha 😉
Bellamouse, I don’t know if they have flights in Epcot outside of F&W but since champagne is French (French producers insist that real champagne only comes from that specific region in France–all others are just sparkling wines) I would visit the wine shop in France at Epcot. My husband has tried a few of their less expensive wines by the glass and been very pleased.
Also, the Flight of the Stars White Wine at the Brown Derby in DHS consists of a French champagne, an American sparkling wine, and an Italian Sparkling wine.
During the holidays they serve Gluwein (hot spiced wine) at the bar. One of my favs, great spot!
The cheese plate looks really good. Can’t wait to try it! Are the pickles dill or sweet?