The Black Forest for wine enthusiasts
Anyone who hears the word Black Forest thinks firstly of mountains and forests. But the low mountain range only forms about two thirds of the holiday region, to which it gives its name. Above all, the wine area of Baden at its western edge belongs to the Black Forest. More than 12,500 hectares of the approximately 15,400 hectares of Baden’s wine-growing area, the third biggest in Germany, form a “Wine Black Forest” at the base of the low mountain range.
With its vineyards and vines, wine-villages and little farms, the western edge of the holiday region is one of the favoured destinations for “Vierteleschlotzer”, a name that Baden’s people like to give to somebody who appreciates a good glass of wine. Baden wines are the only ones in Germany that belong to the wine-growing zone B of the EU. Therefore “Black Forest unions” meet higher standards.
Five out of the nine wine-growing areas in Baden are located in the Black Forest. The Markgräflerland (3032 hectares), Tuniberg (1039 hectares), Kaiserstuhl (4160 hectares), Breisgau (1641 hectares) and Ortenau (2674 hectares). In addition to these, there are two more areas at the Upper Rhine River: in the south a part of the region of Lake Bodensee and in the north, a little part of the Kraichgau region.
In Baden, red and white wines of great repute flourish. The Blaue Spätburgunder dominates in the category of red wines, while in the category of white wines it is the Müller-Thurgau. With regard to the other varieties, each winegrower typically specialises in the regional wine: the Riesling is mostly at home in Ortenau, the Markgräflerland is the land of Gutedel and Burgunder-wines like the Ruländer (Pinot gris) and Weißburgunder (Pinot blanc) are mainly cultivated in Breisgau, Kaiserstuhl or Tuniberg. Exploring the wine-area by car, by foot or in the Rebenbummler, a little train chugging through Baden’s vineyards.
Along the Badische Weinstraße, a road leading through the wine-growing areas in the region of Baden, the Wine Black Forest is easily discovered by car, by bike, or on foot. It leads from Baden-Baden crosswise and meanders 160 kilometres through all the wine-growing areas of the Black Forest to Weil am Rhein at the Swiss frontier.
Wine hiking trails allow bon vivants to explore the region even more thoroughly. The Ortenauer Weinpfad, a hiking trail leading through the wine-growing areas in the Ortenau Area, runs from Gernsbach, 120 kilometres almost to Lahr. The Markgräfler Wiiwegli, another hiking trail through the wine-growing areas in the Markgräflerland Region, is 81 kilometres long and connects Weil am Rhein with Freiburg. For both of them you can book tours, lasting several days, called “Hiking without luggage” at Schwarzwald Tourismus. Ramble in the foothills and between the vineyards, drink your wine directly at the wine-grower’s place and spend the night in cosy wine-growing villages.
In the Kaiserstuhl area you can also take a ride in the Rebenbummler. In the bar-wagon you can sample regional wines while the old steam engine with its original wooden benches and open platforms is chugging the 26 kilometres from Riegel in the north to Breisach in the south of the Kaiserstuhl. The “rolling wine-tasting” passes fertile fields, meadows with fruit trees, and passes through the vineyards and wine-growing places. Sometimes the steam engine stops on its way so that the “Vierteleschlotzer”, a name that Baden’s people like to give to somebody who appreciates a good glass of wine, can enjoy their wines directly at the wine-grower’s place or in the middle of the vineyard.
Information: Tourist-Info Endingen, phone: +49 7642 689990, www.rebenbummler.de
The wine season in the Black Forest
From the beginning of March until the end of October you can enjoy your Viertele (a quarter = 0.25 litres of wine) on the western edge of the Black Forest in a particularly sociable way. Each weekend there is at least one wine or wine-growing festival and often an invitation from a wine-growers’ cooperative, or Winzergenossenschaft as it is called in German, to enter an open wine cellar to taste and purchase its regional wines.
In the early summer and autumn months the Straußen-und-Besenwirtschaften open for business. These places are small wine and food selling restaurants in the wine areas of the Black Forest that only open seasonally. This season offers great possibilities to spend a happy time together, socialising. In the afternoon or the evening, people come together at the wine-grower’s place, as the wine-grower himself may sell his self-produced white and red wines, or the Neuen Süßen, a specially brewed wine that tastes very sweet, and homemade specialities during these 11 weeks of each year:
Bibliskäs, a sort of cream cheese, and Brägele, traditional fried potatoes, meat salad made from beef, Flammkuchen, also called Tarte flambée, a kind of thin pizza, covered with crème fraiche, onions and bacon, or a hearty Vesper, a typical Black Forest snack with home-made blood or liver sausage - no matter what you choose, it tastes best when you eat it on a rustic bank in the courtyard or indoors.