Austria’s Styria
View of Bad Gams, Austria
Steiermark: Mountains and Forests
By the Hamlet of Gersdorf
Steiermark: Farmers’ Huts in Well-Tended Fields
Gallery July 2021
Tag Archives: Austria/Steiermark
Rosé at the Spa
Bad Gams is an Austrian spa town, quaint, quiet, thoroughly devoted to relaxation. What better way to relax than an early morning hike, (provisioned with mineral waters), some time at a spa, followed by a sampling of the local, but widely known, Rosé: Schilcher?
In fact, the trail I followed early one June morning was entitled the Schilcherkellerweg. A mouthful for so early in the morning, but broken down it translates as Schilcher Cellar Trail. It was an easy-going (figuratively and literally speaking) hike that took in the best of what this area has to offer: vineyards and spa waters.
Wine Notes: Schilcher Wine
What I Learned
There are three districts of Austria’s Steiermark wine region, but only the Weststeiermark vintners produce Schilcher wine. This unique wine is a delicious rosé with unique characteristics. The name Schilcher stems from an old Germanic word meaning to shimmer (as in: with color).
Water to Wine
From water to wine, and wine-gardens, the literal translation of Weingarten, German for “vineyard.” That was both the theme and the reality of this circuit hike by Sankt Stefan ob Stainz. It was here in Styria, Steiermark, in German, that I began my exploration of the wines from this southeastern corner of Austria.
Wine Notes: Austria’s Steiermark
What I Learned
The Steiermark is a wine region in the southeast corner of Austria. It is called Styria in English. The Steiermark lies just north of the Slovenian Alps, and east of the Austrian ones. Within this political and wine entity, there are three wine sub-regions.
-The easternmost, the Suedoststeiermark lies closest to Hungary, from where gets some of its climatic influences. Its topography is moderately hilly in most places, and as the name for its Vulkanland district implies, is influenced by remains of ancient volcanos.
-The southernmost, is the Suedsteiermark, which shares a long border, as well as a tradition of viticulture, with Slovenia.
-Then there is the Weststeiermark. It is known by Austrian wine-lovers, and promoted by the local tourism industry, as Schilcher-land, home to a rose wine of the same name.
Zachgraben und Weingaerten: Trail in a Nutshell
Trail Name: Zachgraben und Weingaerten (Zach Creek and Vineyards)
Trail Type: A mid-distance circuit trail; some sections maintained, others rougher, with varying surfaces, from paved to mud. This circuit is not marked (See comment)
Length:
Total – 10.1 kilometers/6 miles
Convenient to: Graz, Austria
Marking:
None (See comment!)
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