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
Bad Gams is an Austrian spa town, quaint, quiet, thoroughly devoted to relaxation. What better way to relax than an early morning hike, (provisioned with mineral waters), some time at a spa, followed by a sampling of the local, but widely known, Rosé: Schilcher?
In fact, the trail I followed early one June morning was entitled the Schilcherkellerweg. A mouthful for so early in the morning, but broken down it translates as Schilcher Cellar Trail. It was an easy-going (figuratively and literally speaking) hike that took in the best of what this area has to offer: vineyards and spa waters.
What I Learned
There are three districts of Austria’s Steiermark wine region, but only the Weststeiermark vintners produce Schilcher wine. This unique wine is a delicious rosé with unique characteristics. The name Schilcher stems from an old Germanic word meaning to shimmer (as in: with color).
Trail Name: Schilcherkellerweg (SKW)
Trail Type: A mid-distance circuit trail; fairly well-maintained, partly paved, some grassy or slightly rougher surfaces, and the rest is hard-packed surface; marking on the trail is good, most of the time.
Length:
Total – 10.5 kilometers/6.2 miles
Convenient to: Stainz, Deutschlandsberg, or Graz, Austria
Marking: Signs, or simply marks (on trees or poles) of blue and yellow horizontal stripes
I immediately resolved to visit the village of Vignale Monferrato, and wander its vineyards, on my premier trip to the Monferrato district in northern Italy. I first saw the vineyards and the village while hiking in 2016 through the Malvasia vines of nearby Casorzo. Rounding a prominence, I spied distant vineyards circling a steep hill capped by a compact village. Capping the village itself is an impressive parish church, with the most expansive view imaginable of the Monferrato from its side-yard.
It took a while, but I finally got there in late May of 2019. (Little did I know then that I would not return to Italy for a little over two years now.) But the wait then was worth it, as the experience of the village and the hike was fantastic. The food and wine were outstanding of course, this being the Piedmont.
What I Learned
Monferrato has a long tradition of wine-making, pre-dating even the Romans. As the famous Roman naturalist, Pliny the Elder noted, the Romans greatly appreciated the wine coming from the Muscat grape cultivated in the Monferrato as a varietal more resistant to cold weather.
The rise of Christianity and establishment of monastic organizations ensured that even after the fall of the Roman Empire, and especially after the barbarian invasions, the production of wine would continue in the Monferrato up until today.
Trail Name: Tra Valli e Cascine (AKA Sentiero 732)
Trail Type: short-distance hiking circuit; marking on the trail is fairly good, and consistent; once out of town, the trail surface is mostly gravel over hard packed earth, with a grassy stretch for about two kilometers/a bit over a mile.
Length:
Total – 9.7 kilometers/6 miles
Convenient to: Casale Monferrato, Alessandria, Piedmont, Italy
Marking:
Trail signage: Vertical red-white-red bars imprinted with the number 732 in black; alternatively, trail markers are red and white horizontal bars.
Trail Signage photos: See featured photo above, and trail marking photo below:
