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.
Trail Name: Panoramaweg Spitzer Graben (also advertised as Panoramawanderweg Spitzer Graben)
Trail Type: Long distance hiking trail, well maintained, and rather well-marked.
Length:
Total: 19.7 km/12.25 miles
Segment: @12 km/8 miles
Convenient to: Krems, Austria
Continue reading Panoramaweg Spitzer Graben: Trail in a Nutshell
Focusing on Pinot Noir again, I headed for the hills west of the small Swiss town of Hallau, known as Blauburgunder-land. In Switzerland (and some places in Austria), Pinot Noir is known as Blauburgunder. Here, the hills are covered by these vines, facing the sun for most of the day.
What I Learned:
If you haven’t heard much about Swiss wine – don’t be surprised. Less than 3% of all Swiss wine production is exported!
Trail Name: Blauburgunder Panoramaweg
Trail Type: Long distance hiking trail; either paved or hard-packed gravel, well maintained.
Length: total: 12 km/7.5 miles
Convenient to: Schaffhausen, Switzerland
Continue reading Blauburgunder Panoramaweg: Trail in a Nutshell
Hiking Burgundy’s Cote de Nuits taught me to appreciate the important things in life; and in the Cote de Nuits, life does seem to revolve around wine. Certainly wine is not the most important thing in life here: rather producing the greatest quality wine becomes an all-consuming passion on the part of most families who make a living from these hugely famous but surprisingly small appellations and the wines they produce. And hiking through these vineyards gave me a chance to appreciate that.
The Cote de Nuits vineyards, some of the most famous in the world, begin just yards from trailhead in Chenove, with the Marsannay Village appellation. Shortly after, in the village of Fixey/Fixin, I came to the first Premier Cru vineyard: Les Arvelets. (Fixin is also does homage to another great: Napoleon. Fixin’s Noisot Museum, and associated park, were created by Claude Noisot, a former officer in the Imperial Army who actually accompanied Napoleon into exile at Elba.)
Continue reading Burgundy’s Cote de Nuits: Big Names, Small Vineyards
What I Learned:
By way of overall explanation, the term Cote D’Or (Golden Slope) has a couple of meanings: it refers to a department in France, and it refers to a geological phenomenon, a large limestone ridge, that gives its name to a wine region. The wine region is subdivided into two sections: the northern Cote de Nuits, and the southern Cote de Beaune. This post covers the northern, Cote de Nuits, section, which runs from approximately just south of Dijon to just south of Corgoloin in Burgundy.
Continue reading Wine Notes: Burgundy Cote D’Or – Cote de Nuits
Trail Name: Chemin des Grands Crus
Trail Type: Long distance hiking trail, wine-themed; with a widely varying trail surface from paved road to grass track, somewhat maintained, and signposted or marked at many intersections, but not all.
Length:
Convenient to: Dijon, Burgundy, France
Continue reading Trail of the Grands Crus: Trail in a Nutshell
Overcast, foggy and cool: a typical, late September day in Germany; but perfect for bike riding. Determined to bike along the Mittelrhein Wine Region this year, I could only hope for the happy coincidence of a break in the rain, and some free time. At least the rain held off, in spite of the leaden clouds overhead.
While I couldn’t pick the weather, I could pick the route. Having once taken a day cruise through the world heritage site of the Upper Middle Rhine, I decided to bike through the area for a closer look. It was a perfect choice as the Rhine Cycle Route stays on the left bank of the Rhine throughout this entire stretch. I narrowed it down even further. By starting at the edge of Boppard, near the vineyards, and ending in Bingen, I managed pass through or see two wine regions: the Mittelrhein, and the Rheingau on the opposite bank; and visit the best-known wine villages and river towns along the Upper Middle Rhine.
