The Appellation d’Origine Controlee (AOC) Collioure centers around the town of Collioure. (Within this area, vintners also harvest grapes for the AOC Banyuls, a Vin Doux Naturel (VDN) fortified like port, but that is another topic.)
AOC Collioure focuses traditionally on red wines, Grenache Noir predominates, but Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsault and Carignan are also grown. But hot weather, and a diet laced with seafood, often calls for a lighter wine, vice a hearty red. Accordingly, this AOC allows production of rose wines. Interestingly, in a rose cuvee, vintners may add up to 30% Grenache Gris.
At this point on my hike along the Wi Wegli, I had no doubt that years from now, all my wine-themed hiking experiences considered, the Wii Wegli in the southern Baden wine region, will rank in my top three. This long-distance hiking trail provided a delightful hiking experience as well as a great tasting experience in one. From south (by Basel, Switzerland) to north (by Freiburg) great experiences awaited over every hill, and in every village. By the time I reached Muellheim, I had not realized that some of the best were yet to come.
I left Niederweiler, overshadowed from on high by the ancient Celtic, Roman and medieval edifices of Badenweiler, and climbed an equally formidable slope on the other side of the village, the Roemerberg. The climb was mostly through vineyards. Emerging from the forests that crown the top of the Roemerberg, beginning the descent, I spotted the village of Britzingen. Like so many of its neighboring villages, it is set in a hollow, following along a rushing mountain stream, and surrounded by green. However, the full magical effect of these discoveries came shortly afterwards as I wandered through eerily still Muggardt, the sole lane winding up through the hamlet on its way to vineyards.
The Markgraeflerland district is along the southern-most section of the Rhine as it borders France, in the region of Baden, in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. As many other wine regions in the Rhine River valley, the Romans cultivated and harvested grapes here, and with the start of the Carolingian era, viticulture and viniculture took hold again.
Trail Type: Long distance; well-maintained and usually paved or hard pack, marking on the trail very good throughout.
Length: 81.6 kilometers/ 50.5 miles (See note below)
Convenient to: Freiburg, or Weil am Rhein, Germany; Basel, Switzerland
Marking: Yellow grape cluster on a red diamond on white background (Note: many times the red has faded to white. Another note: In the final segment, the trail often follows the Jacobusweg: yellow cockleshell on blue)
I have hiked many wine trails, in many different wine regions. And I have tasted many wines from those regions. But rarely does a trail combine both a wonderful hiking experience and tasting experience in one. For sheer variety of landscape, and expansive vistas of much of the southern Rhine River Valley, the Wii Wegli (dialect for: little wine trail) is a fantastic long-distance hiking experience. Located in the southwestern corner of Germany, the Markgraeflerland is a wine district in Baden’s wine region – one with excellent wines. From south (by Basel, Switzerland) to north (by Freiburg) great hiking and wine experiences awaited over every hill, and in every village.
The Markgraeflerland wine district is along the southern-most section of the Rhine as it borders France and Switzerland, in the wine region of Baden, in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. It is the southern-most wine producing district in Germany. It begins in Weil am Rhein, just outside the Swiss city of Basel, and continues almost to Freiburg. The vineyards lie on the foothills between the river valley floor, and the Black Forest mountains to the east. About 3000 hectares, and 90 cooperatives, cellars and wine estates are dedicated to the production of this district’s wine, carried out the in villages and small towns that dot this area.
Trail Type: Long distance hiking trail; very well-maintained and almost exclusively paved or hard-pack, marking on the trail is consistent, and pretty good throughout (although maps are necessary).
Length: 81.6 kilometers/50.5 miles (See comment below)
Convenient to: Freiburg, or Weil am Rhein, Germany, Basel, Switzerland
Marking: Yellow grape cluster on a red diamond on a white background (Note: many times, the red has faded to white. Another note: In the final segment, the trail often follows the Jacobusweg: yellow cockleshell on blue background)
