Trail Name: Hatzenport WeinWetterWeg
Trail Type: Mid-distance circuit; well-maintained, varied trail surfaces from rock, to scree, to grass and tarmac; excellent signage along the trail.
Length:
Total – 12 kilometers/ 7.5 miles
Convenient to: Coblenz, Cochem, Germany
Marking: A white rabbit and grapes, with directional arrow diagrams
Luxembourg is a small country. But good things often come in small packages, as the expression goes. This is true not only of the Duchy, but also of the wines, and of the wine trail I completed.
Luxembourg’s wines, especially its sparkling wines, are appreciating in quality year over year. One of the oldest caves for the Domaines Vinsmoselle, is in Wellenstein in the Canton of Remich. In this southern-most section of Luxembourg’s appellation, wine is big business. Accordingly, three small communities closest to this cave have collaborated to create an educational wine trail. While not in the largest appellation along the Moselle, nor perhaps the most celebrated, this trail deserves pride of place among many of the hiking trails, large or small, found up and down the Moselle for a number of reasons.
Trail Name: Circuit Viticulturel or Wain a Kulturpad
Trail Type: A short distance; almost exclusively paved, (except about a kilometer, if using a grassy shoulder along a road), well maintained, but not a lot of trail signage.
Length: Total: 10 kilometers/ 6 miles
Convenient to: Remich or Schengen, Luxembourg
Trail Marking: See photo below
December: Often a cold month, and the month with the shortest days of the year. But along the Moselle, temperatures can be mild in December, and the short days are celebrated, as they are throughout Germany, with Christmas Markets! Anyone who has been to Germany during December knows what fun these can be.
Traditionally, Christmas Markets open at the beginning of Advent, (usually around the last weekend of November), and run until Christmas Eve. Usually set up in the town square (or squares!), they offer hand-made crafts, Christmas items (such as tree decorations, Christmas-themed table linens, nutcrackers and smoker men), live entertainment, and food and drink. Wine plays a role here too, as Gluehwein, or warm mulled wine, is a popular drink. Red or white, the Gluehwein not only helps warm chilled hands and feet, it also helps warm the heart. At Christmas Markets, Christmas cheer is evident, even if the weather can be cold.
What I Learned:
Along the Moselle River valley wine region, there are three sections: The Upper Moselle area, the Middle Moselle area, and the Lower Moselle. This post addresses wines and wine production in a small area of the right bank of the Middle Moselle, between Bernkastel and Trarbach. (For more information about this region’s wines, read here: http://www.winecountrywandering.com/wine-notes-moselles-bernkastel-district/.)
Trail Name: Bernkastel-Kues to Traben-Trarbach
Trail Type: Short distance trail; much of it paved, some of it grassy, the rest is dirt trail; well maintained, but the markings are not exclusive to this route, and change in places.
Length: total: 6.5 kilometers/ 4 miles
Convenient to: Koblenz or Trier, Germany
Marking: Multiple signs indicate the direction to “Traben-Trarbach” (or “Bernkastel” if going the opposite way); Gold lizards on a red heart on a red square marked this trail the first part of the way; Once atop the hill, “T-6” and “Mosel Erlebnis Route”, were also signs on this same trail all the way to Trarbach. (See the featured photograph above, and red sign in the first photo below.)
Continue reading Bernkastel to Trarbach: Trail in a Nutshell
As the Moselle flows through Germany, its geography changes. Three designated sections: the Upper Moselle which flows from the French border to fabulous Roman-era Trier; the Middle Moselle; and finally, the Lower, or Terraced Moselle which goes from Zell to the mouth of the river at Koblenz; are quite distinct.
The Moselle begins quite gently, and gradually roughens, sharpening its curves on the unyielding slate hills. By the Lower Moselle, slopes become steeper, rock predominates, and the river forms several of its most backbreaking oxbows between Briedel, Zell and Cochem. Here, to maximize vineyard space, vintners must build terraces.
What I Learned:
Germany’s Moselle River region is as an important wine-producing area in Germany as the Rhine region. It is the oldest wine producing region in Germany.
Germans refer to the Moselle sections as Upper, Middle and Lower, beginning at the French-Luxembourg border, and continuing to Koblenz downriver, in the Lower Moselle section.
Trail Name: Mosel Radweg (Moselle Bike Trail)
Trail Type: Long distance bike trail; almost exclusively paved, well maintained, well-marked.
Length:
Total: (Thionville – Koblenz) approximately 277 kilometers/172 miles
My Segment: (Bernkastel – Cochem) approximately 80 kilometers/49.75 miles
Convenient to: Trier or Koblenz, Germany
Marking: A white letter M and white bicycle icon on a square green placard
