Trail Name: Sentier Viticole des Grands Crus (also known as the Perles du Vignoble)
Trail type: Mid-distance hiking circuit; mostly paved, some hard-packed gravel; very well-maintained and well-marked.
Length: Total – 17 km/10.5 miles
Convenient to: Colmar, Alsace, France
Marking: Mostly gold letters on brown wooden background
Continue reading Sentier Viticole des Grands Crus: Trail in a Nutshell
Celebrating the holiday season in luxurious style often involves a bit of sparkling wine, and Luxembourg sparkles in that regard. Spending Christmas in Luxembourg gave me the opportunity to sample Luxembourg’s sparkling wines, visit some caves, and hike two overlapping trails through vineyards stretching along the slopes of the Moselle Luxembourgeoise wine region.
What I Learned:
Little known, as not much is exported, Luxembourg’s wines are readily available and thoroughly enjoyed by residents and visitors in the Grand Duchy. For lovers of dry, white wines, this region provides some delicious alternatives to Alsatian or Rhine white wines.
From the towns of Schengen to Wasserbillig, Luxembourg joins the centuries old tradition of producing wines along the Moselle. On this west side of the river, local vintners grow their grapes mostly in terraces rising steeply from the narrow river plain for much of Luxembourg’s 42 kilometer stretch along the Moselle.
Trail Names:
Circuit Cremant
Auto-Pedestre 1
Trail Types: 2 short distance circuits;
Cremant: Short hiking circuit; paved, well maintained and marked.
Auto-Pedestre 1: Short hiking circuit, some parts paved, some hard-packed, some soft dirt; some sections marked, but markings missing in a couple of crucial spots.
Lengths:
Cremant: 4.6 km/2.8 miles
Auto-Pedestre 1: 8 km/5 miles
Convenient to:
Luxembourg, Luxembourg, with local public transportation
Trier, Germany, with a car
Markings:
Cremant: Flute on a white pentagon, on red background with green edge
Auto-Pedestre 1: Black “1” on a blue triangle on white rectangular sign
(Note: The photo’s blue hexagon with a yellow rectangle is the sign for the Sentier de la Moselle, described below.)
Continue reading Circuit Cremant and Auto Pedestre 1: A Nutshell on TWO Trails
I made a pilgrimage to Hautvillers. Champagne was born there, as anyone who loves sparkling wines as much as I do will know. Sooner or later, serious champagne aficionados will want to visit to pay their respects to the life’s work of Dom Perignon, a monk dedicated to studying and producing good local wines.
What I Learned:
Champagne can only come from Champagne, the region, about 90 miles from Paris. In spite of its proximity to “gay Paris,” champagne did not enjoy great fame until fairly recently. Although grapes were cultivated in the region as early as Roman times, the often cold, foggy climate worked to ensure that grape ripening was not consistent from year to year. Hence the wine was not always good, or plentiful.
Trail Name: Circuit de Saint-Marc
Trail Type: Mid-distance hiking circuit; partly paved, part dirt; no specific marking for this trail.
Length: total: 11 km/6.8 miles
Convenient to: Epernay, France
The Danube River brings to mind not only the Blue Danube Waltz, that compositional blend of romantic, gently swirling, rhythmic phrases – punctuated by the occasional dramatic phrase – it is also evocative of Lower Austria and Vienna, a graceful and refined area that includes great art in all forms, and wine, of course. Since wine country hiking here combines all these elements, it fell on the must-do list.
Continue reading The Wachau: Wine Experiences along Austria’s Danube
What I Learned:
Austria has 20 wine regions, one of which is the Wachau, situated along the banks of the Danube, upriver from Vienna.
Wine production in the Wachau region dates to at least the 1130s.
The geography helps to make grape-growing possible. The ancient Danube River helped created the loess soils, and now serves to moderate temperatures; the bowls formed by the steep hill slopes (called Ried), shelter vines from winds and capture the sun’s heat.
