The Weinwetterweg circuit, if nothing else, promotes a new appreciation for viticultural workers on the Moselle. The “Terraced Moselle” is the name of wine district where the lower length of the Moselle starts, and serious terraces begin. This end of the Moselle twists and turns through the slate cliffs and outcroppings that line its sides. As it approaches the junction with the Rhine at Coblenz, the seemingly impossible-to-sustain vineyards appear between narrow river frontage, and high rocky promontories. This is the most spectacular part of the Moselle, and is well worth both a visit and a hike.

While the initial leg of this hike follows along the river bank, the trail cuts through the village, and toward the cemetery, before quickly coming to its first climbing stage: the Rabenlay. From there to the top (even if you take a nearby alternative route, as I did), is steep going, but once on top, magnificent views take what remains of your breath away. This is the first of three steep and narrow climbs (Kletterpfad). Each requires quad strength, balance and sure-footedness. The other two, the Dolling, the shortest, but perhaps the steepest, and the Burg Bischofstein, on the return leg, lay ahead.

 

Then the trail continues uphill…At the Winzerhuette Hatzenport, take a well-deserved breather before continuing into a peaceful draw. The hillsides here are dotted with terraces. At this level, old terraces made of local slate, slowly sink back into the earth. A couple of vintner huts, carefully maintained, thrust out from the dry-stone walls.  In this sheltered draw, I reveled in the sun on a cold day; I can imagine it would be rather hot on a warm one.

 

Shade in summer would be an important consideration. After the Kletterpfad Dolling, once clear of a residential neighborhood, came a wooded section, the first after the segment from the Rabenlay to the Winzerhuette Hatzenport. The third would be down through the narrow valley of the Bischofsteiner Graben.

 

Approaching the hamlet of Lasserg from the flat fields high above the river, I looked for the Bischofsteiner Castle. Most unusually, this castle is hidden from view from both Hatzenport and Lasserg. Though it dominates the river and the town of Burgen on the opposite bank (as any good robber baron castle should), it only makes its appearance to hikers heading down the very narrow valley of the Bischofsteiner Graben toward the end of it.

 

The ascent from Bischofsteiner Graben via the Burg Bischofstein climb, leads back to the high fields section of trail. From a strategically emplaced bench, the views of serpentine valley of the Maybach on the far side of the Moselle fascinate, with hillsides falling onto each other from each side of the little creek like so many teeth of a zipper.

 

One final bit of shade, as the trail heads downhill and back into Hatzenport. This idyllic interlude through trees, downhill, and on a wider path, ends soon enough though, as the trail re-enters town. The trail leads back to the wineries, wine taverns and wine bars in Hatzenport, where a well-deserved tasting is due.