Tag Archives: Germany/Baden

Germany, Hiking

Cold Winter Wandering

 

From one end of Baden to the other, there is a world of difference in weather and wines. From a relatively warm day, to a bone-chilling wet-cold one, all in the same week. From the broad Rhine River valley, to the narrow Tauber River valley. Such can be the extremes of weather and geography in the Baden wine region.

Baden’s Tauberfranken wine district is far to the north and east of most of the rest of the Baden region. It lies less than 20 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of Wuerzburg, in Franconia (Franken, in German). The town of Lauda-Koenigshofen, an important center in this district, is where the trail began. (Officially, it begins in the associated village of Beckstein, but parking was not as easy there.) Lauda-Koenigshofen lies on the west bank of the Tauber River, but in large part seems fairly divorced from the river. Skirting west of the old walled town center (well worth a quick visit), the trail avoided the river altogether and headed uphill into the vineyards.

Gate in the Wall: Lauda-Koenigshofen

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Germany, Wines

Wine Notes: Baden’s Tauberfranken

 

What I Learned  

A bit of the Baden wine region lies far north, with some of it in the German State of Bavaria! Baden’s Grosslage Tauberklinge extends north from around Assamstadt to the area around Homburg am Main. Much of this district lies along or quite near to the Tauber River. Other sectors lie in small valleys of minor Main River tributaries, or of tributaries to the Tauber River.

The Taubertal (Tauber (River) Valley) is a very diverse wine growing area. Following along the course of the river, upstream (south) to downstream (north), you find 3 regions (Franconia, Baden and Wuerttemberg) and 4 districts represented: Franconia’s Mainviereck District, Baden’s Tauberfranken District, Wuerttemberg’s Kocher-Jagst-Tauber District, and Franconia’s Maindreieck District. All this within about 120 miles of a fairly narrow river valley! The frequent district changes reflect the diverse soils and growing conditions in each region. Of course, these differences result in a variety of unique wines produced along the Tauber.

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Germany, Hiking, Nutshell

Tauberschwarzweg: Trail in a Nutshell

 

Trail Name:  Tauberschwarzweg

Trail Type: Mid-distance circuit trail; well-maintained and about half is paved, the other surfaces are grass and earthen; marking on the trail is somewhat good, but a map is strongly advised.

Length: circa13 kilometers/8 miles (See comments below)

Convenient to: Wertheim, or Wuerzburg, Germany

Marking: The capital letter “D”

Trail Signage: D for Tauberschwarzweg

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Germany, Hiking

Warm Winter Wandering

 

Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, a trail’s face changes with the seasons. While this is undoubtedly true for the Ihringer Winzerrunde West trail, even as I hiked it in early February, it seemed more a trail of the Spring, and for good reason: the Kaiserstuhl is consistently one of the warmest, if not the warmest area in Germany.

To be honest, I was not looking forward to seeing the trail’s winter face for a couple of reasons. First, the Ihringer Winzerrunde West trail has several inclines, as it passes through vineyards, which in addition to being sited on elevations formed by ancient lava flows,  also has an extensive system of terraces throughout the area.

Precision-Cut Terraces

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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, Switzerland, Wines

Wine Notes: Bodensee’s Untersee

 

What I Learned

The Bodensee wine district lies in a  true garden spot for Germany, Switzerland and Austria, where fruit trees, truck gardens, and vineyards are tucked among small villages and ancient religious foundations.

It is located on Lake Constance. It is known in the German-speaking world as the Bodensee, and fondly referred to as the “German Sea” because it is shared between Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The lake itself has three distinct parts: the Obersee , the Untersee, and the Seerhein. There are vineyards along much of all of it.

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Germany, Hiking

Riesling Wine Wandering

 

Increasingly, wine regions, especially those growing iconic grape varietals, sponsor varietal wine walking trails. Riesling is an especially important varietal in the Rhine River Valley. When I heard of one such trail in the wine region of Baden, I decided to visit.

The Riesling Weg (Trail) is located in the village of Eisental. In this part of the Baden wine region, the Ortenau, Riesling is the single-most cultivated varietal. Riesling can be a challenge to grow, given the lack of sunshine some years, and the steep slopes required to ensure maximal sun exposure when there is any. However, this Riesling trail was not challenging, and is easy enough for the whole family to enjoy.

First, there was the village. Small, compact, and nestled in a hollow, it was an oasis of tranquility. The old nucleus of the village, set around the church and town hall (Rathaus), was untouched by tourism – So laid back that it has only one eatery in the center.

Eisental and the Black Forest

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Germany, Wines

Wine Notes: Ortenau Riesling

What I Learned

Riesling grows in every German wine region, and in some, a lot more than others. In the Baden wine region, Riesling is the single most cultivated white varietal. The Ortenau, in particular, grows more Riesling proportionally, than any other wine area within the Baden wine region.

Riesling has a long and interesting history here. Traditionally, the name Klingelberger applies to Riesling wine from the Ortenau. In a nod to this tradition, you can still find Riesling wine sold under this label, (much as you can find Pinot Noir grown in Affental, bottled under the name Affentaler). Another tradition involves the use of the uniquely shaped flat Bocksbeutel as the bottle of choice. The Bocksbeutel is traditionally associated with the Franken/Franconia wine region, but this area of the Ortenau adopted its use in the 1700s, when a nobleman from Franconia took up residence here, and bottled his wines using the Bocksbeutel. After a lengthy legal suit in the 1970s over Franconia’s exclusive right to use the Bocksbeutel, the court upheld the Ortenau tradition, ruling that outside Franconia, only the Baden areas around Neuweier, Steinbach and Varnhalt could bottle their wine that way.

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