Ivy Fleischer Kupec on the Ortenauer Weinpfad
Welcome to my blog! I have been living in the Stuttgart area of Germany since Summer 2007, and it’s high time I blogged about the life of an American abroad, learning a new language, adapting to cultural differences, and more often than not enjoying the wonderful things that Germany has to offer. I am also a paid wine blogger, so you may see a bit of that emphasis in my writing here. As a writer and public affairs professional in health care and marine and atmospheric sciences, this is a far cry from the work I did at the Food and Drug Administration or the University of Miami. I’ve become a huge fan of Germany and am constantly amazed by how much there is to explore.
Hello,
My boyfriend and I are going to be in Germany at the end of September. We would like to due at least a portion of the wine trail. Do you have any suggestions i.e. favorite wineries, towns, what to do with our car. We will probably only have three to four days to spend in wine country. Any help would be great. It looks like you had a great time on your trip.
Thank You,
Erin
Erin,
The way we planned our trip was actually through a GREAT wine tourism site that my husband found on the Web: http://www.weinparadies-ortenau.de. Yes, I know it’s all in German, but if you don’t know German, don’t be afraid. These folks helped set up a customized wine hike for us, and I’m guessing — can’t guarantee it for sure — that they could set one up for just five days for you as well. They do have folks in their office who speak English, and I’m guessing you might be able to start in Baden-Baden, for example, and hike through a few towns in Ortenauer, doing a portion of their weinpfad. After doing this trip, I would say, that if you want to do more tasting than walking, you might see how you could limit your daily hikes to 12km or so…that way you really can spend some more time at winemakers and in more quaint wine bars along the route. Working through these folks, you pay for your guest house rooms through them, so it was convenient and very reasonably priced. They work with several hotels, so I’m sure they could plan something to fit your budget. Re: your car? My husband parked ours right next to our finishing point and then took a train back to where he had dropped me off at our starting point. It worked out great. Here is an e-mail address and phone number to contact the Wine Paradise folks: Tel: + 49 (0)7805 – 916 7051
and inf@)weinparadies-ortenau.de. Good luck, and hope you have fun!
So glad to see you are drinking, er, I mean, writing more about drinking wine these days! Although I have been disappointed with many a German wine, I know from reading your blog that my problem is that I don’t know what to order/buy. Thanks for all the good tips and info. You are a great writer and we want MORE, MORE, MORE!