Name: Breisgauer Weinweg
Trail type: Long distance, multi-day trail; mostly hard-packed gravel or paved in built up areas and some vineyards, well maintained and well-marked.
Length: 99.1 km/61.5 miles
Convenient to: Freiburg, Germany
Marking: Green grapes on red diamond on white background
Online research can produce some great finds, and this trail was one of them. Searching for a day hike in the Wuerzburg area: something around 15-25 kilometers, wine-themed, and through well-known, scenic territory, turned up nothing for me. A major disappointment because Wuerzburg is one of my favorite cities, with its architectural gems, unparalleled setting on the river, and a well-established wine culture, that naturally attracts good food. So I turned my queries to the other side of the Maindreieck, to the “wine island” and Volkach area.
My hits included the Panoramaweg. Not a title implying a wine-themed trail, but that was exactly what it was: a trail through several of the more famous vineyards in the Volkach area, wine-tasting opportunities, and a wine learning trail along the way. And, as advertised: this trail had magnificent panoramas throughout the trail.
Continue reading Panoramaweg: Volkach’s Wine Trail with a View
What I Learned:
Along the Main River in Franconia (Franken, in German), there are three wine districts of good repute: Maindreieck, Mainviereck, and the Steigerwald, set slightly off the river, but still enjoying a climate mild enough to grow grapes. This post focuses on the Maindreieck district only.
The Maindreieck is a triangle of land surrounded on three sides by the Main River. The Main is a tributary to the Rhine. The river makes three dramatic curves close to the heart of Franconia, forming this “triangle” (dreieck) as a paragon of viticulture in south central Germany. The most important and undoubtedly best known town for wine culture in this area is Wuerzburg.
Trail Name: Panoramaweg
Trail Type: A mid-distance trail or circuit; some medium-difficulty ascents; almost exclusively hard-packed gravel or paved; well maintained and fairly well marked.
Length: totals:
Circuit: 15 kilometers/9.3 miles
Trail: 20 kilometers/12.5 miles
Convenient to: Wuerzburg, Franconia, Germany
Marking: Orange background with a white stylized eye
Gargantua is a literary character developed by Francois Rabelais, a 16th century French writer. Gargantua is known as an epicurean giant of awesome adventures, son of a wine estate-owning nobleman. The adjectival form has become synonymous with humungous. And it was also the name of a trail I recently hiked. So, I wondered as I hiked, does the name refer to the big-name Beaujolais wines from here enjoyed by epicureans world-wide, or does it refer to epic adventures to be found along the 16-kilometer route, or the size of some of the hills the trail traverses?
It certainly did not refer to the size of Moulin a Vent, the Wind Mill, an iconic landmark, as well as a renowned wine appellation, in the Beaujolais region. It is often easier said than seen for hikers in this very hilly landscape. But that was my start point and my end point on this circuit trail to discover two great crus of Beaujolais.
What I Learned:
Beaujolais is a wine region just south of Burgundy. It has three different quality levels: a simple Beaujolais produced in the southern-most reaches of this region; a Beaujolais-Village appellation; and in the northern part of this wine region, ten villages have their own appellations due to their special crus. It is a singular geological area, once part of an ancient sea bed. The hills are often steep and hide valleys between them. Schist and granite soils in the Beaujolais give a distinctive minerality to the wines. The best of these wines, the ten villages/areas of appellation (Brouilly, Chenas, Cote de Brouilly, Chiroubles, Fleurie, Julienas, Morgon, Moulin a Vent, Regnie, Saint-Amour) offer good value for quality wines.
