I remember the Ahrtal and its wines. As evident below the photograph, the trail I hiked in May 2018 passed through an area filled with quiet charm and natural beauty, known for full-bodied red wine. Unfortunately, the area is now known for the epic July 2021 floods. Raging waters devastated town after town along the trail. Lives were tragically lost. The vintners lost not only this year’s harvest, old vines, and the work of decades, many also lost even the wines in their cellars. The human cost in suffering and loss of lives has been enormous. As a reminder of life, loss, and love of the area, I republish this series of posts with best wishes for recovery, in all its senses.
What I Learned
Germany’s Ahr Wine Region, almost 50 kilometers north of the Moselle at Koblenz, is the Rhineland-Palatinate’s northern-most wine region, though it is not Germany’s northern most wine region. (That honor goes to the Saale-Umstrut region in Saxony.) But it is the furthest north red wine region in Germany. Until seen, it would be hard to credit that red varietals could ripen well enough this far north. But the vines grow on steep, mostly south-facing slopes of dark volcanic rock, along a very narrow valley that runs (in a very serpentine fashion) from west to east. Nature and geologic activity have combined to create some ideal conditions for red varietals here, with volcanic stone soils in the western end of the valley, and loess soils in the eastern end of the valley, as it approaches the Rhine.
Trail Name: Rotweinwanderweg (Red Wine Hiking Trail)
Trail Type: Long distance; surface footing is all hard, be it on tarmac or hardpacked earth or stair-steps; very well maintained, and extremely well-marked.
Length:
Total: 35.5 kilometers / 22 miles
My segment: Altenahr to Marienthal (@15 kilometers / 9 miles)
Convenient to: Bonn, Germany
Marking: Red grapes on a white background
