Tag Archives: Germany

Germany, Wines

Wine Notes: Baden’s Kaiserstuhl

 

What I Learned

The Kaiserstuhl is a wine district within the German wine region of Baden. Baden has a large number of wine districts, and with almost 4300 hectares (over 10,500 acres), it is the largest of all nine wine districts in Baden.

This district is one of the warmest sites in Germany, with some of the highest average temperatures and the highest average hours of sunshine per year. In this district, the vines are planted mostly in terraces, mostly on south facing slopes of the Kaiserstuhl, maximizing exposure to the sun in this already sun-drenched (relatively speaking) district. Another interesting aspect of this district is its base. It is volcanic, as this whole area was once one giant volcano. A layer of loess lies on top of the remnants of the old volcanic lava, which seems to retain heat to an amazing degree. The cuts in the terraces reveal incredible depths of the light-colored loess layer.

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Germany, Hiking

Winzerrundweg West: Trail in a Nutshell

 

Trail Name: Winzerrundweg West

Trail Type: Short distance circuit; well maintained and almost exclusively paved, marking on the trail good, but not foolproof

Length: 9 kilometers / 5.6 miles

Convenient to: Breisach or Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany

Marking: Red rectangular signs with the trail name in white letters (See the featured photo above)

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Germany, Hiking

Whining about Woods

 

German wine is well known. As are German woods and forests: The Odenwald, and the Black Forest (Schwarzwald, in German), to name a couple of famous ones. So, when I found a circuit trail entitled Wein und Wald Runde (roughly translated as Wine and Woods Circuit), I really looked forward to cycling it.

Winding Through Vines and Woods

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Germany, Wines

Wine Notes: Wuerttemberg’s Untere Neckartal

 

What I Learned

In the German region of Wuerttemberg, a lot of wine is produced. Much of it grows on steep hillsides facing the Neckar River, but some of it is produced in the valleys of its main tributaries. Wuerttemberg is a hilly state, with well-drained, sun-facing slopes in many districts. The vines and orchards compete to cover slopes in Wuerttemberg’s wine district of the Untere Neckartal (also known apparently as Wuerttembergisches Unterland), near Heilbronn, in southern Germany.

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Biking, Germany, Nutshell

 Wein & Wald Runde: Trail in a Nutshell

 

Trail Name:  Wein & Wald Runde (Wine and Woods Circuit) (AKA: SB3)

Trail Type: Mid-distance cycling itinerary circuit; well-maintained, with much of it paved, and well-marked, along most of the itinerary route

Length:

Total – 28 kilometers/17.4 miles

Convenient to: Heilbronn, Germany

Marking: SB3 and trail name letters in white on a colorful square metal sign

SB3 Wein & Wald Runde Sign

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Biking, Germany

Riding Through Riesling

 

After having hiked through the steep and forested slopes of the Mittelrhein, I continued my tour of the Rheingau wine region’s vineyards by bicycle. At Ruedesheim, I left the Rheingauer Riesling-pfad (see here), and hopped on a bike following the Rheingauer Riesling Route. The two trails cover the Rheingau vineyard area, but following somewhat different routes.

I was immediately struck by how different the wine area upriver from Ruedesheim is from that downriver of it. Upriver from Ruedesheim, the world heritage site of the “Mittelrhein” ends. The obvious difference is that the river suddenly opens up again. The narrow chasm defining the romantic middle Rhine with its vertiginously steep slopes disappears, replaced by gentler vine-bearing slopes. Cities soon replace quaint villages, and the river takes on a more business-like aspect, industry, ports for shipping, and riverside loading facilities.

The Rhine: From Wiesbaden to Mainz

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Germany, Wines

Wine Notes: Rheingau II

 

What I Learned

The Rheingau, in the German state of Hesse, has one of the smallest total vineyard areas in all of Germany. But nonetheless, it has a huge importance in the world of wines. It is not only one of the most famous wine areas in Germany, it is also strung along one of the most famous stretches of river in the world!

Rheingau wine aficionados can point with pride to a long and continuous tradition of wine-making in this area: from having one of the oldest wine estates in Germany, Schloss Vollrads, to a monastery founded by the medieval St Hildegard, where the nuns still grow grapes.

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Biking, Germany, Nutshell

Rheingauer Riesling Route: Trail in a Nutshell

 

Trail Name: Rheingauer Riesling Route

Trail Type: Long distance trail; almost exclusively paved, well maintained; the route itself is marked in part with the wine glass marking (see below), and other parts are marked with an R3.

Length:

Total: 62 kilometers/38.5 miles (Kaub to Floersheim)

Segment: 49 kilometers/30.5 miles (Ruedesheim to Floersheim)

Convenient to: Wiesbaden, or Mainz, Germany

Marking:

White wine glass with a crown on a green background; Alternatively: R3 and R3a (variant to Kloster Eberbach). Where the icon marking is not easily found, follow the R3 or R3a signs.

Signage for Various Cycling Trails

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