Cycling through Germany’s wine country has always been a dream.

The nicely developed infrastructure of bike paths… the tiny medieval villages dotted along the winding rivers… castles perched precariously high on the steep slopes of the river banks… and, of course, some of the best riesling in the world.

After years and years of thinking about making the journey to Frankfurt and biking into the heart of the Rheingau and Mosel regions, we finally made good on it.  Here is a chronicle of some of the places we visited, wines we tasted and wonderful people we met along the way.  If you have even the slightest interest in making the journey yourself, we HIGHLY recommend it.  And, if you have any questions about how you can make the trip a reality too, just leave us a comment and we’ll happily help you if we can.

Day 1 – Frankfurt to Oestrich-Winkel

On the way to visit Robert Weil

The beginning of the Rheingau wine producing region is Hochheim am Main, less than an hour west of Frankfurt by train.  However, the heart of the Rheingau (and the majority of its best producers), begins a further 10 kilometers west of Hochheim with the town of Wiesbaden.  Our journey began with a train from Frankfurt to Mainz (about 40 minutes) and then a quick ride to the northern side of the river where Wiesbaden is located.  As we made our way along the Rhein to Winkel, it was hard to ignore the fact that vineyards covered virtually the entire northern river bank.  The majority of vineyards lie on a relaxed south-facing slope down to the river.  However, most of the finest vineyards are set back a kilometer or two from the river where the slopes rise a bit more steeply into the trees lining the crests of the hills.

Click here for the next post on our Germany bicycling trip (a tasting at Robert Weil)