The Rhine River valley has vineyards on both sides along much of its length. In four countries, (five, if you include a mere 30 acres in the Vorarlberg region of Austria), vineyards cover select slopes of various geologies and topographies. Five sections of the Rhine have vines: The Alpine, the High, the Upper, the Middle and the Lower. The Alpine Rhine, from Reichenau to Lake Constance, mostly flows through a mostly wide valley lined by Alps on either side. The Graubunden Canton north of Chur, the tiny country of Liechtenstein, and the Sankt Gallen Canton, all have vineyards on the slopes facing onto this section of the Rhine. Since I had already visited some of those vineyards on a hike in the Graubunden Canton, (see here) I decided to visit the Sankt Gallen Canton to see some of their vineyards, and to learn about some of their wines.
Sankt Gallen Canton takes its name from the famous abbey of Saint Gall. The city and abbey of Sankt Gallen have no vineyards. Instead, the vineyards lie about 25 kilometers east, ranging along the slopes above the Rhine, as it flows north to Lake Constance.
The Monsteiner Rebweg trail leads through the canton’s greatest concentration of vineyards, in the area around Berneck-Au. This trail, which starts on flat land by Au’s main church, must follow up the mountainsides to reach the vines. At one point, it is less than 165 meters (180 yards) from the Appenzell Innerrhoden border, where a water divide of sorts occurs. Many streams flowed from the top reaches of the slope in the Sankt Gallen canton, to empty into the Littenbach, a tributary to the Rhine canal.
High above the town, the Rhine and Rhine canal came into view. In this section of the valley, the Rhine as well as several of its tributaries are canalized. While relatively flat, the flow here is swift and powerful. Unlike the Upper, Middle and Lower Rhine sections, this part of the river is not now commercially navigable. However, in the past, that was not the case. Judging from the drawings on Monstein’s wine education panels, Monstein grapes could have shipped by boat – and part of the current town would have been under water.
Also at those higher reaches of the trail, carved out of hard rock, military defensive positions came into view. Switzerland is a neutral country, and its military focuses on the defense of Swiss territory. This position, the Heldsberg, was designed to defend against enemy incursions into Switzerland from across the Rhine via Austria to the east, or from the German side of Lake Constance to the north. Not currently in use, some clever soul constructed a little scene using garden gnomes in a former port.
At Hard, a hamlet atop what appears to be a drumlin, the trail leads downhill into Au. Alternatively, according to online information, you can follow an extension to the Frohe Aussicht restaurant before beginning the descent to Berneck. I chose the latter option because, well, on that particular day, I had the luxury of time, and the weather was holding. I took a slight chance in doing so because the extension as yet has no specific trail markings, only directional markings. It was worth the chance.
As the trail lead down from the restaurant, it went through a small wood, a stream rushing downhill in a deep gully next to the trail. Not much water was in stream that day, but clearly, it could take out smaller trees when swollen in a spring thaw. And the trail continued its descent along stairs, finally reaching the vineyards above Berneck.
This part of the trail through the vineyards was paved and contained Berneck’s wine education trail. It heads toward a massive cliff which forms a nice backdrop to the fields below. A fair number of Swiss walkers, all moving at a surprisingly brisk pace, were heading up the path as I was heading down. Once again on flat land, cyclists between Au and Berneck sped back and forth between the two, on paths that followed along the Littenbach, and through the fields. Clearly local people here appreciate their hiking and cycling trails!
Once back at the starting point in Au, I could look up at the steep vineyards, and could marvel at yet another part of the Rhine; a river in Europe that provides so much beauty, happiness, and of course wine, to the world!
