Jul 2

Jul 2 German Wine Road(s)

German wine might not have the same reputation as French wines do, but some of the best whites are made there. Considering the Baden wine region's closeness to France, this sunny area on the other side of the Rhine with volcanic origins is perfectly situated for wine making.

There are actually quite a few official wine roads in Germany. My trip report covers two of them:

This trip can be done in less than one week or more than two weeks - depending on how long you want to linger in the vineyards. You can also pick one or two hotels if you are on a Europe-trip, maybe on your way from Frankfurt airport to France, Switzerland, Spain or just to pick up your German sports car in Stuttgart - a detour to the wineries will be worth it (but don't drink and drive).

You can jump to the hotel review by clicking on the links above.

Wineries

I'd like to point out some of the great wineries along the wine roads. I did not visit all of them yet, but they have the best rating at the Gault&Millau wine guide in this area, so I put them on my map to visit later.

Weingut H. Dönnhoff - Oberhausen an der Nahe - Region: Nahe - 5/5 Grapes
Weingut Knipser - Laumersheim - Region: Nahe - 5/5 Grapes
Weingut Geheimer Rat Dr. von Bassermann-Jordan - Deidesheim - Region: Nahe - 4/5 Grapes - 85 CT-Points (it's directly opposite to the hotel Ketschauer Hof)
Ökonomierat Rebholz - Siebeldingen - Region: Nahe - 5/5 Grapes
Weingut Andreas Laible - Durbach - Region: Baden - 4/5 Grapes
Gräflich Wolff Metternich'sches Weingut - Durbach - Region: Baden - 2/5 Grapes - 75 CT-Points (next to Hotel Ritter Durbach)
Weingut Bernhard Huber - Malterdingen - Region: Baden - 5/5 Grapes
Weingut Salwey - Oberrotweil am Kaiserstuhl - Region: Baden - 4/5 Grapes
Weingut Bercher - Vogtsburg am Kaiserstuhl - Region: Baden - 4/5 Grapes
Weingut Franz Keller Schwarzer Adler - Vogtsburg am Kaiserstuhl - Region: Baden - 3/5 Grapes - 90 CT-Points (it's the winery of the hotel Schwarzer Adler Estate)
Weingut Dr. Heger - Ihringen - Region: Baden - 4/5 Grapes - 95 CT-Points

I added my rating (CT-Points) to those wineries where I tried several wines myself. The Gault&Millau wine guide rates wineries with grapes - five grapes are the best of the best.

Welcome to wine country (here: Kaiserstuhl in Baden)

1. Begin in Heidelberg - die Hirschgasse

Tourists from the far East or West have usually only a few stops in Germany on a Europe trip: Schloss Neuschwanstein, Berlin, Frankfurt (if only for the airport) and Heidelberg. It has a beautiful old town with a castle on the hill and one of the oldest universities in Europe.

And being not too far from the largest airport in Germany, Frankfurt, it is an ideal starting point for a vacation on the continent.

It also has two SLH hotels, one is the Heidelberg Suites Boutique Hotel and the other is where I stayed on this trip: Die Hirschgasse. Both are on the other side of the river Neckar with views on the castle and the old bridge to the city center.

This old hotel has history and you can feel it. It is connected to student unions who held so called Mensuren here. Carvings on the table in the restaurant tell stories of past sessions.

Mark Twain wrote about this hotel when he stayed there in 1878 to witness a Mensur. You can read about it in "Bummel durch Europa".

The rooms are all very individual suites. We had one with Laura Ashley-style - flowers everywhere. There are slightly different styles in the other suites, but they follow a similar theme. Meaning: you won't find a suite with slick Scandinavian simplicity.

We tried to book a table in the Michelin-starred restaurant, but it was already fully booked. The owner was as disappointed as we were. We just decided to eat at the less formal restaurant. And it was really good as well. A theme you will find in all of the hotels we visited on this trip. In this area of Germany they actually know about good food (you can't say that about all parts of the country).

Hotel	Die Hirschgasse
Brand	SLH (at the time of my stay)
Good	Very friendly staff and engaged owner that tells you stories about the long history of the place One Michelin starred restaurant The less formal restaurant is fantastic as well
Bad	It's not very centrally located The style of the suites is not for everyone
CT Points	90

2. Into the vineyards - Ketschauer Hof, Deidesheim

From Heidelberg you can explore the two German wine regions of Baden and Nahe. On my trip, I went westward to the Nahe region first. I recommend a detour to the medieval city of Speyer and see the famous dome from the 11th-century. Many German kings and emperors were buried here.

The village of Deidesheim is amidst the wine hills of the Nahe wine area, a few kilometres northwest of Speyer. There are some nice little hotels here and one of those is the Ketschauer Hof. A small estate-like complex next to the winery of Bassermann Jordan in the village, this SLH property is a quiet, understated boutique hotel with modern rooms and good service.

The Ketschauer Hof is a complex made of restaurants and parks

Great breakfast - with completely individual orders

It's a little less personal than other boutique hotels, since the owners didn't greet us or said hello. This is what happens regularly at other good SLH hotels and also what I really like about them. Other than that it was flawless.

Hotel	Ketschauer Hof
Brand	SLH (at the time of my stay)
Good	Perfect breakfast with everything made to order (actual five stars, not like the other hotels who sell us a buffet as luxury!) Great coffee from a small roaster in Freiburg Large, modern, and light rooms A restaurant with one Michelin star The less formal restaurant is also great
Bad	The salon was empty and I couldn't get any coffee or drinks there (maybe it's a room for the winter season) No Spa in the house. You have to take a walk through the village to get to the sister hotel for that.
CT Points	93

Wine

Weingut Geheimer Rat Dr. von Bassermann-Jordan - Deidesheim - Region: Nahe - 4/5 Grapes - 85 CT-Points (it's directly opposite to the hotel)

3. Further South - Hotel Ritter Durbach

From Deidesheim we leave the first wine road, the Nahe Wine Route, to drive further South until we reach the Baden wine area where we stop in Durbach. Another quietly situated village where everything stands in the name of the wine.

Ritter Durbach is quite a special hotel (it should definitely be part of SLH, if I were to decide). If you have read my other blog posts you probably already stumbled upon my sentiment that I like it when hotels embrace their locality and traditions, but bring something new to the table at the same time. This is all true for Hotel Ritter Durbach. They embrace wine, good food (a Michelin-starred restaurant), personal and friendly service, classic cars for rent to drive through wine country and having an old-style picnic. This is what I want when visiting a wine area. The owners nailed it here and you can see their passion for being a host to their home when you meet them.

View of the Metternich winery from the room

View from the Ritter Durbach spa terrace

Tender deer meat in the less formal restaurant

First course of the Michelin-starred restaurant

Hotel	Hotel Ritter Durbach
Brand	Hideaway Hotels
Good	Perfect staff (it's obvious that the management has a high regard for their employees, which directly affects customer service. You can see how they all like their jobs.) Both, the Michelin-starred and less formal restaurants are fantastic Spacious spa with interesting ideas, like scented rooms Classic cars, e.g. a Porsche 356 convertible, for rent
Bad	The room we had was, while renovated, not on par with the expected luxury. The window blinds were old style and it seemed to have been a smoker room a long time ago.
CT Points	95

Wine

Gräflich Wolff Metternich'sches Weingut - Durbach - Region: Baden - 2/5 Grapes - 75 CT-Points (next to Hotel Ritter Durbach)

4. Beautiful Kaiserstuhl - Hotel Schwarzer Adler

From Durbach you will be driving southwest until close to the French border, not far from Colmar, into a hill country with wineries all around - the so called Kaiserstuhl.

Made by volcanoes, the wines from this hill country are really exceptional.

View from the KellerWirtschaft restaurant in the super modern winery of Franz Keller

Hotel Schwarzer Adler main building with the reception and Michelin-starred restaurant

This hotel has a main building, which is still in its historical state, where some rooms are located. My room, though, was located in a modern house nearby. Additionally, the winery of the hotel, Franz Keller, is situated a little further away on the foot of the vineyards. And this winery is a stunner. Super modern architecture made of concrete and glass and tastefully combined with wood and built into the mountain hidden under grass. There is the winery, a (little) less formal restaurant (KellerWirtschaft) and a wine shop.

Can you spot the winery? It's hidden like a bunker with super-modern architecture (for a winery)

Inside the bunker: nice views from the terrace and the shop downstairs

We took a hike through the never-ending vineyards

The room in the modern building near the main house was large, bright and tastefully furnished.

One of my favourite amenities brand: Molton Brown

I can highly recommend the fine dining restaurant, awarded with one Michelin star. Great value for money (140 EUR for five courses and accompanying wines for every course) and just fantastic cooking. Even though I ordered the pre-selected wines, I still took a chance to browse through the huge wine menu. Really impressive selection.

This is what I call a wine menu (the photo doesn't make the dimensions clear, believe me, it's huge)

First course: Millefeuille from the goose liver with sour cherry and Amaranth

Hotel	Hotel Schwarzer Adler Estate
Brand	SLH (at the time of my stay))
Good	Fantastic fine-dining restaurant Again: Both, the Michelin-starred and less formal (KellerWirtschaft at the super modern winery) restaurants are fantastic Modern, bright and large rooms Nice staff that goes out of their way, e.g. the lady at the reception made an early check-in possible, even though the room wasn't ready yet, so I could at least change
Bad	No Spa facilities
CT Points	94

Wine

Weingut Franz Keller Schwarzer Adler - Vogtsburg am Kaiserstuhl - Region: Baden - 3/5 Grapes - 90 CT-Points (it's the winery of the hotel Schwarzer Adler Estate)

Winery Dr. Heger

I want to point out one winery in the Kaiserstuhl where I bought wine on the trip. Dr. Heger is great with red wines, which is unusual for this area. The whites are award-winning as well.

Summary

This was quite a long trip report, but I hope some of you made it down to here. Looking at my ratings for the four hotels, if you had to choose one or two hotels, I would definitely go with Ritter Durbach or Schwarzer Adler. They just were a tad better than their counterparts in the Ahe Region. That's not to say that #1 and #2 were bad hotels, it's really just complaining on a very high level.

So, happy wine tasting!