Category Archives: Germany

Wine Notes: Pfalz Mittelhaardt Wine District

What I Learned:

The northern part of the Pfalz wine region is known as Mittelhaardt, beginning around Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, and continuing to around Worms, in Zellertal.

Reds grown here include the Spaetburgunder (Pinot Noir), and Dornfelder, among others. But Riesling grapes predominate, as more than half the grapes grown in this region are of this varietal. Other white varietals of German fame include Mueller-Thurgau, Kerner, and Gewurztraminer. One varietal cultivated here, not often heard of in the non-German world, is known as the Scheurebe. In 1916, German viticulturalist, Georg Scheu, created this grape in his institute’s laboratory in Alzey, not far from the northern edges of the Mittelhaardt. This varietal is often destined to produce the sweet wines.

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German Wine Route Hiking Trail – Mittelhaardt District: Trail in a Nutshell

Trail Name: German Wine Route Hiking Trail/Wanderweg Deutsche Weinstrasse

Trail Type: Long distance hiking trail; pavement or hard-packed trail surface throughout, well maintained, and fairly well-marked.

Length:

Total: 96 km/60 miles of the complete trail

First segment of the Mittelhaardt district: 18.5 km/11.5 miles

Second segment of the Mittelhaardt district: 24 km/15 miles

Convenient to: Ludwigshafen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany

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Hiking the German Wine Route: an Oenophile’s Paradise

One of the loveliest hikes in Germany is a 60 mile-long,  mostly a gentle walk through vineyards and villages, at the edge of the Haardt Mountains on the west side of the Rhine River Valley. The entire area in this southwest corner of Germany is known as the Pfalz, in German, and the Palatinate in English. As the name implies, the area is filled with castles. Castles and wine: I love this region! The pristine villages, back-dropped against evergreen, red sandstone mountains capped by castle ruins, with their wonderful wines and wineries keep calling me back for more visits.

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The Classic Deutsche Weinstrasse: Hiking the Suedliche Weinstrasse

The Weintor, a towering gate marking the beginning of the German Wine Route (Deutsche Weinstrasse), will forever mark in my mind the first step of a fantastic journey: A wonderful hike through the glorious and relatively unknown German wine districts of Suedliche Weinstrasse and Mittelhaardt in the fabulous region of the Pfalz in southwest Germany.

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Wine Notes: Pfalz Suedliche Weinstrasse

What I Learned:

The Pfalz has a long history of wine making. Grapes were cultivated and processed into wine even in the early days of Roman settlement along the Rhine. The implements found throughout various sites in this part of the Pfalz, some of which are in the museum in Edenkoben, bear witness to this long history. The tradition continued with the establishment of regional monasteries, such as the one in Wissembourg, France, just south of today’s Weintor in neighboring Germany, dating to the 600s; and important dioceses’ centers in old Roman districts, such as Worms and Speyer. (Church services required wine, hence vineyards for the raw material.)

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Deutsche Weinstrasse/Suedliche Weinstrasse: Trail in a Nutshell

Trail Name: Deutsche Weinstrasse Wanderweg (Schweigen – Leinsweiler-Edenkoben-Neustadt/Weinstrasse segments)

Trail type: Long distance hiking trail; mostly hard-packed gravel or paved, well maintained and fairly well marked.

Length: total (of the Suedlich Weinstrasse half): circa 54 km/33 miles

Schweigen – Leinsweiler segment: circa 25 km/15 miles

Leinsweiler – Edenkoben segment: circa 18 km/11 miles

Edenkoben – Neustadt segment: 11 km/7 miles

Convenient to: Karlsruhe, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany

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Moselle Wine Villages

Variety is the spice of life, as the saying goes – and this circuit trail proved the point. Landscapes as varied as meadows, fields and forest, hill and dale, streets, steps and dirt paths, and of course, vineyards and villages, all ranged along or near one of the most famous wine-growing riverscapes in the world: the Moselle River Valley. The variety and natural beauty of this trail will always enchant hikers with new vistas over each ridgeline, or views around each river bend.

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Wine Notes: Moselle

What I Learned:

The Moselle River wineries are not that far from the Rhine river wineries in the Rheingau and the Rhein-Hesse wine regions, but they are figuratively speaking a world apart. Equally as proud of their line of products, which have centuries of tradition behind them, both river valley wine growers share something else in common: the cultivation of the Riesling grape as the single-most common varietal grown.

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Wandering with Wine in Wuerttemberg

Of the many fabulous local wine events in Europe, especially in Alsace and southern Germany, the rambles through vineyards where vintners set up stations with food and wine are among the most popular. The routes, usually around 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) long, are marked out along existing hiking trails, access roads for agricultural vehicles, and streets through towns and villages. Whole families are out there, and with the great air of festivity, and plenty of stops to relax and replenish fluids, the route is easily done by all.

I recently had the good fortune to participate in an event which circled the town of Beilstein, in the Wuerttembergisch Unterland wine growing region, north of Stuttgart, Germany. The timing for this event was convenient, and the weather in central Germany was perfect that day: sunny and seventy.

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